One for the Language Police

I received this message today from a friend on MySpace.

Gay/faggot is NOT a word substitute for stupid or lame. You promote ignorance by abusing those words in that manor. People who use words like that only express there lack of vocabulary and intelligence.
(Repost if you agree.)

My friend had received this from someone else and then passed it along to me.

There is a certain irony in the author's poorly written condemnation of ignorance, but I am going to leave that aside in favor of the topic.

I took part in this war myself. Some years ago when I began playing Everquest, I noticed a trend among the younger players who use the term "gay" as a synonym for "lame", "stupid" or "bad". For some time I tried to educate some of these younger RPG colleagues that their choice of language might be hurtful to some people, including friends of theirs who might not be "out."

What struck me in these conversations was that, far from expressing anti-gay animus, these kids, were themselves surprised to hear that some people might take offense at their usage. They repeatedly explained their subjective intent - their understanding of the word itself, in context - had nothing to do with its usage in another context. For them it seemed to be just as any other word that might have more than one very diverse meanings.

And perhaps this is as it should be. Here is a demonstration of the mutability of language. There was a time that no one considered the word "gay" to mean "homosexual." It simply meant "happy" or "carefree". Similarly, "faggot" once referred to a stick of wood, or fuel for the fire.

I am interested in the etymology of this particular usage. I wonder where and how it began. Not enough to do the research myself, but it would be interesting if the language police mentioned it to William Safire.

In saying this, I am not saying I approve of the usage. I don't. There are people who find it hurtful and, for me, that's enough reason not to use it. Similarly, I will not use the word "nigger" because, in context, coming from me, it can only lead to offense. Even though it would be perfectly acceptable if I were a young hip-hopper.

Similarly, I take a strong dislike to the casual use of the word "nazi" in today's conversation. Words like "Feminazi" "Soupnazi" and "language nazi" really bother me. The Nazi's killed a substantial part of my family. The Nazi's killed six million jews, enslaved and tortured millions in the most deplorable conditions. Nearly wiped the Rom population from the face of the earth.

And someone wants to compare a mean soup ladler to that? That alone was enough reason for me not to watch Seinfeld.

So, it is understandable that some word choices are going to be offensive to others. Why would we rather hear words like "torture," "maim" and "kll" than words like "fuck" and "blowjob"?

However, language usage is not determined by lexicographers. Dictionaries are merely catalogues of known usages, they are not arbiters of correctness. Subject to copyright laws, no one individual or group has an exclusive claim to any word or phrase in the english language.

The alternative is to let the government decide what words mean and when we can use them. Happily, the First Amendment still prevents that.