Gay Offensive? I think not!

According to the Oxford English dictionary, the word, “gay” has had over fifty meanings over the course of time.  This dates back all the way to 1386, when the word meant someone who was full of joy.  Here lately the word has been used as a synonym for “stupid”.  My main question is this, is the word “gay” offensive?  Personally, I don’t think so, and I will explain why.

In 1386, according to the Oxford English dictionary the word “gay” as an adjective started out as a description for a joyous person.  Later on in 1826, the word described a lively, prancing horse.  Since that definition there have been over twenty adjectives alone that are synonymous to “gay.”  Here’s an example of a phrase that use the word “gay” in a different context: “Are you trying to get gay with me?”  Nowadays, this sentence would be viewed as humorous.  This is something I would say to another guy if he took his shirt off and tried to hug me.  However, in this phrase, the word gay simply means to be front or impertinent. 

The word has also changed as an adverb throughout the years.  If you place an    “-ly” on the end of any word it becomes an adverb.  For example: happily, restlessly, and crazily are all adverbs.  Gay is no exception.  If you were to play the “-ly” on the end of gay, it becomes gaily.  This word was most commonly used as a way to say someone did something with glee or joy.  For example, I gaily cheered about getting an “A” on an exam.  Also, when used as an adverb, you could talk about a gay few, meaning a good few. 

The word “gay” has also been used to describe a woman in prostitution as early as 1825.  That meaning is no longer used today.  “Gay” has meant a dog’s erect tail.  When the dog’s tail was straight, the dog had a gay tail.  I’ve never heard it used like that.  Back in 1381, Chaucer used the word to mean nicely dressed.  That doesn’t sound familiar to me either.  In 1529, the word was meant to describe something brilliant, which is the exact opposite of how the word is used now.  More definitions include: to be in good health, to describe something good, tolerable, Parasynthetic, and ironic.

In 1974, in the United States the word “gay” was used to describe a homosexual.  This word, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is slang.  On www.dictionary.com, the word can mean happy, bright, licentious, or homosexual.  Casually this word can mean homosexual, without it being slang.  Webster’s defines “gay” the exact same way.  According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “gay” meaning homosexual has only been around since 1974.  In modern times, this word is no longer slang.  It has become a way safe and easy way to talk about a homosexual.  The Urban Dictionary defines gay in three ways: happy, homosexual, and more recently, stupid. 

People have begun to say something is gay to refer to something they do not like.  Many people say that this saying was brought forth by referring to homosexuals as stupid, or something people don’t like.  This meaning of “gay” originated in 2003, so says the OED.  I don’t think this word was meant as stupid referring to homosexual individuals.  Most new phrases come with similar wordings, and everyone knows what it means.  For an example of this, I’ll use some basketball slang.  If someone shoots a three-pointer and it goes in, you might hear someone say, “He drained it.”  Maybe you’ll hear someone say, “Water!”  You might even hear someone say, “Buckets!” All these terms are similar to each other, and carry the same value for people who follow basketball.  If someone did start up “gay” to mean stupid, referring to homosexuals, then wouldn’t there be other close phrases.  Wouldn’t someone have come up with using “fag” or “queer”?  I’ve never heard anyone say, “This shirt is fag.”  If someone really wanted to be hurtful, they would use these words instead, because gay is actually an official word for homosexuals.  Homosexuals accept the word gay as well, as there are Gay Pride gatherings.

If you’ve ever heard someone say, “That guy was really trying to gay up this place,” be aware that it is very possible that this phrase wasn’t aimed to be offensive.  In 1581, using gay in such a way just meant to brighten something up.  For example, “Everyday, the sun gays up the neighborhood.”  However, nowadays, it probably okay to assume it’s meant to be offensive.  Microsoft Word’s grammar check doesn’t recognize that sentence and tells me that I need a verb. 

I actually know, and am friends with three gay people.  I have made jokes around them calling certain things gay, and they have just laughed.  Of course, I can’t look at these three people and assume that it’s okay with every gay person to hear jokes about their sexual orientation.  I think the true question here isn’t whether the word gay is offensive, it’s who does the word gay offend.  Gay originally meant to have joy.  This word has been tossed around several times to mean so many different things.  It was never meant to be offensive to anyone.  Gay rights activists would argue that we should stop using this word to mean anything other than happy or homosexual.  However, some gay people use this word as openly as heterosexuals.  Therefore, in order to say gay is offensive, you would have to have a unanimous decision from all homosexuals saying it offends them, which isn’t going to happen.  Let’s face it, you’re never going to make everyone happy. 

I could go on all day about offensive words, and how we should stop using them.  If we can’t use “gay” in a context that means stupid, then we shouldn’t be able to use “ass” to mean anything other than a donkey.  We shouldn’t be able to use “hell” other than to mean a place created by God to cast out Satan.  We also shouldn’t be able to say “damn” other than to mean it to convict someone.  Every word in our language had to come from somewhere, that’s what’s great about it.  The word “retard” in other languages, such as French, means slow.  In English, this word means to be mentally challenged.  In the Bible, the word “lame” means crippled.  Now the word means boring or naïve.  In the 18^th century, the word “fag” meant hard work.  We all know what the word is said to mean now.  Languages change, that’s a fact. 

 “Gay” is a word that has changed so much over the years.  If you are offended by the word “gay”, who are you to say I’m even talking about you when I say it?  I could be referring to an erect dog’s tail.  I could have just made up an entire new meaning to the word.  It is not any homosexual’s authority to say that they own the word “gay”.  “Gay” has so many meanings that it’s almost like a variable.  We could use an equation in sentence form: This day couldn’t get any gayer!  Gay is the “x” of the sentence.  We could rewrite that sentence several ways using the different meanings:  This day couldn’t get any happier! ; This day couldn’t get any brighter! ; This day couldn’t get any homosexualier!  That doesn’t even work.  How could assume that gay always means homosexual?  The point is, the word "gay" is a beautiful word.  It means happy and bright.  I'd love to be gay everyday.  People who become offended should realize how beautiful the word really is.  So, is “gay” offensive?  I think not!

Sources:  www.oed.org ; www.urbandictionary.com ; www.m-w.com; www.dictionary.com