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The Decline and Fall of the ‘H’ Word (Homosexual)
New York Times ^ | March 21, 2014 | JEREMY W. PETERS

Posted on 03/23/2014 7:31:00 PM PDT by reaganaut1

To most ears, it probably sounds inoffensive. A little outdated and clinical, perhaps, but innocuous enough: homosexual.

But that five-syllable word has never been more loaded, more deliberately used and, to the ears of many gays and lesbians, more pejorative.

“ ‘Homosexual’ has the ring of ‘colored’ now, in the way your grandmother might have used that term, except that it hasn’t been recuperated in the same way,” said George Chauncey, a Yale professor of history and an author who studies gay and lesbian culture.

Consider the following phrases: homosexual community, homosexual activist, homosexual marriage. Substitute the word “gay” in any of those cases, and the terms suddenly become far less loaded, so that the ring of disapproval and judgment evaporates.

Some gay rights advocates have declared the term off limits. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or Glaad, has put “homosexual” on its list of offensive terms and in 2006 persuaded The Associated Press, whose stylebook is the widely used by many news organizations, to restrict use of the word.

George P. Lakoff, a professor of cognitive science and linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, has looked at the way the term is used by those who try to portray gays and lesbians as deviant. What is most telling about substituting it for gay or lesbian are the images that homosexual tends to activate in the brain, he said.

“Gay doesn’t use the word sex,” he said. “Lesbian doesn’t use the word sex. Homosexual does.”

“It also contains ‘homo,’ which is an old derogatory,” he added. “They want to have that idea there. They want to say this is not normal sex, this is not normal family, it’s going against God.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: americanpravda; antibreeder; anunnaturalact; apbias; asspress; buttociatedpress; culturalmarxism; cultureofcorruption; culturewar; downisup; downourthroats; dramaqueen; fdrq; gay; gaynewsrooms; gaystapo; glaad; goesagainstnature; heterophobe; heterophobia; homo; homonazism; homos; homosexual; homosexualagenda; homosexuality; howveryqueer; notnormal; nuclearfamily; nytimesbias; orwelliannightmare; pederast; pederastagenda; pederasty; pinkjournalism; sexpositiveagenda; smashmonogamy; smashthepatriarchy; sodomites; thoughtcrime; unnatural; waronmarriage; wrongisright
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The accurate term "homosexual" bothers them. Good -- I'll make sure to use it instead of the euphemism "gay".
1 posted on 03/23/2014 7:31:00 PM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

I guess we better all stop drinking homogenized milk. It contains ‘homo,’ which is old and derogatory.


2 posted on 03/23/2014 7:33:15 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: reaganaut1

The biggest problem is that it is incorrectly formed, since ‘homo’ is Greek and ‘sexual’ is Latin. Ugh!


3 posted on 03/23/2014 7:33:51 PM PDT by proxy_user
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To: reaganaut1
I never say the G-word. I say "homosexual" because it describes a clinical problem; it's a descriptive term of a medical illness.

They are not happy and they are not normal. I won't pretend they are.

4 posted on 03/23/2014 7:34:26 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: reaganaut1
The Decline and Fall of the ‘H’ Word (Homosexual)

to the ears of many gays and lesbians, more pejorative.

Why, there are so many other more colorful perjorative terms to use:

Like, faggot, queer, rump-ranger, butt-pirate, fairy, bull-dyke, packer/muncher...we could go on for hours...

And we might.

5 posted on 03/23/2014 7:36:46 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves" Month.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

You sound like a homo sapiens.


6 posted on 03/23/2014 7:36:46 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin
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To: reaganaut1

I have not used the word “gay” in years. If they’re so damn proud of their sexual perversion, then they shouldn’t flinch at being called homosexuals. It is totally descriptive . . . “gay” means happy, and if they were happy, they wouldn’t be “gay.”

It is extremely seldom that I hear even “conservative” talk show hosts call them what they are . . . homosexuals. Truth hurts, don’t it?


7 posted on 03/23/2014 7:36:59 PM PDT by laweeks
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To: ClearCase_guy

I use the same word that I used for nill clintoon ... degenerate.


8 posted on 03/23/2014 7:37:11 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Being deceived can be cured.)
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To: reaganaut1

Not very accurate; made up by journalist/activist Karl-Maria Kertbeny less than two centuries ago. He coined “heterosexual” at the same time too, in an attempt to make the two behaviors sound equivalent.

But if it irks the community in question, no sense in not using it.


9 posted on 03/23/2014 7:37:57 PM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: reaganaut1
Changing the language again.

As long as it keeps working for them, the left will keep doing it.

10 posted on 03/23/2014 7:37:59 PM PDT by Washi (Stop Obama's War On Jobs)
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To: reaganaut1

I either prefer homo or queer, both we used 50 yrs ago when I was a young-un.


11 posted on 03/23/2014 7:39:01 PM PDT by biff (WAS)
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To: reaganaut1
I knew I was on the right track when I always insisted upon using the "H" word!

The homosexuals ruined the word "gay." It used to be my favorite word, before I knew about homosexuals.

12 posted on 03/23/2014 7:39:09 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.")
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To: reaganaut1
by those who try to portray gays and lesbians as deviant.

Deviant:
de·vi·ant adjective \-ənt\
: different from what is considered to be normal or morally correct

Yup.

13 posted on 03/23/2014 7:39:30 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: reaganaut1

I say “homosexual” in polite society. Other times I say “queer”. If what they do to each other isn’t queer, then nothing is.

I will never ever call them “gay”.


14 posted on 03/23/2014 7:39:49 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (God is not the author of confusion. 1 Cor 13: 33)
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To: reaganaut1
They'd prefer "faygaleh?"

"Pillow-biter?"

How about "sodomite?" Is "sodomite" good?

15 posted on 03/23/2014 7:40:53 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (Richard Warman censors free speech.)
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To: reaganaut1

I always use homosexual instead of gay.

Gay can also mean ‘happy’ or ‘lame/uncool.’ Furthermore, the homosexual lobby is trying to define teenagers’ propensity to call things they think are stupid as ‘gay’ as hate speech.

I find the whole issue gay.


16 posted on 03/23/2014 7:41:24 PM PDT by struggle
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To: reaganaut1

Mixing internal feces with external body parts is disgusting no matter what you call it.


17 posted on 03/23/2014 7:41:38 PM PDT by umgud (2A can't survive dem majorities)
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To: proxy_user

The prefix homo is both Latin and Greek. Homo Latin means “man”. Greek homo is “same”.

Lesbians are homosexual too.


18 posted on 03/23/2014 7:44:33 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (God is not the author of confusion. 1 Cor 13: 33)
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To: reaganaut1

okay then, we’re back to either “pervert” or “degenerate” or “sodomite”. works for me.


19 posted on 03/23/2014 7:45:00 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: reaganaut1
Heterosexual = attraction between members of the opposite sex

Homosexual= attraction between members of the same sex

so what's their problem again?

I personally want the use of the word "gay" to return to its rightful use....as in we'll have a gay ol' time! as Fred Flintstone use to say!

or don we now our gay apparel...falalalalalala.

20 posted on 03/23/2014 7:45:16 PM PDT by ealgeone (obama, borderof)
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