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Aswad -> RE: The term 'gay' has it changed meaning? (11/8/2012 9:26:09 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: JanahX
The end.
A convenient ending to a bit of a fairytale. [;)]
People do indeed make up new definitions for words; it's how we came to have other words than ugh, argh and aieee, something I'm quite happy about. Language is organic, words lack well defined meanings, and dictionaries are descriptions that try not to lag too far behind; all else is dogmatic folly.
The new usage pattern is more orthogonal and more fit. It would become the dominant usage in an analytic language like English for this reason alone. Analytical languages build phrases (like "gay blond man"), rather than building words (say, "gambi" to denote gay blonde guys). Straight conveys nothing about gender. Bi conveys nothing about gender. Gay completes the regular series, and fits perfectly in there. The notion that gay is a term for male gays is going away. If you want to be clear, say "gay man", and it'll be perceived correctly by all speakers. That's how English works in the long term, anyway.
Homosexual isn't short and catchy, whereas gay is, and so that's how it will be (and, to some extent, already is).
straight woman - gay woman - bi woman
straight man - gay man - bi man
The only reason the word lesbian isn't going away, is because the aggregate meaning ("woman that'll have sex with a woman") is used in porn and is rather popular there, and also used in certain communities as an identity that is isolated from the greater LGBT communities (a matter of sexism, really).
OP: just say "gay man" and make everyone happy. [:D]
IWYW,
— Aswad.
P.S.: The reason? We're no longer naming anomalies. We're referring to the sexualities of regular people. Ain't progress grand? Makes me smile, it does.
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