This (Destiny)

by someotherguy, Hertfordshire, England, Friday, August 21, 2015, 16:02 (3479 days ago) @ Robot Chickens

I don't know why, but I've found that the words "fag" and "gay" have found their way back into my day-to-day language as replacements for "idiot" and "lame" recently. Obviously I don't mean then as hate speech. At no point when I say them do I mean "you homosexual" or "that is in some way homosexual", and I know that my audience know this, but it still makes me feel uncomfortable when I catch myself saying them. (Plus it makes me feel twelve again).

As Claude has said before - words mean things. And even if you don't mean them like that, they still mean that to some people, and you have to be careful. On the other side of the coin, I'm all for freedom in the words you choose and the evolution of language - I'm a big proponent of de-tabooing most cusswords, including words that were once considered hate speech.

It's a difficult balance, but I think really it's about knowing your audience. If you call your friend a c**t in private and you know he won't be upset that's cool. But if you scream it at a group of elderly women someone's gonna have a bad time.