Timeline for Is it rude to call a gay person "homosexual?"
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 21, 2011 at 18:24 | comment | added | TRiG | @Mike Christian, Beware the etymological fallacy! The history of the word gay is actually quite fascinating. And, contrary to some assertions I've seen, it wasn't "taken" by the gay activists. The change in meaning was natural, if non-obvious. | |
| Jun 21, 2011 at 17:11 | comment | added | Mike Christian | Yes, there are many alternatives. However, the question specifically targeted the words "gay" and "homosexual". Homosexual is autological (a self-describing word). If you set the Waybac machine's dial to 1940, you'll find the word "gay" means "having or showing a merry, lively mood: gay spirits; gay music." Thus, "homosexual" is both autological and historically more accurate. | |
| Jun 8, 2011 at 18:32 | comment | added | TRiG | @Mike Christian, I've just posted an answer strongly disagreeing with your assertion that the word homosexual is "more appropriate". Have a glance at it and see whether I've convinced you. I thought, since I mentioned your answer in mine, it was polite to comment here to let you know. | |
| Jun 8, 2011 at 18:31 | comment | added | TRiG | @Cereberus. Many employers use surveys like this anonymously to check whether they have any implicit biases in their hiring practices. They check whether the ratios in the workforce match the ratios in the world at large; if they don't, they revise their hiring practices to weed out discrimination. (Note that "positive discrimination" is illegal in the UK, but you can choose to advertise preferentially in certain media, etc.) How this applies to sexual orientation, where the ratios in society at large are very hard to estimate, I don't know. | |
| May 26, 2011 at 14:49 | comment | added | Cerberus - Reinstate Monica | @FumbleFingers: Let me rephrase slangy as informal: don't you agree that gay is more informal than heterosexual? I just found the words in the list incongruous. // Okay, I see why the NHS might want to know that. However, I do think that stuff is private. If the risk warrants it, they should have every employee take an HIV test every six months (shouldn't be expensive); if not, I really don't think meddling with people's sexuality is a good idea. And how would they formulate policy? Gays shouldn't be surgeons? | |
| May 26, 2011 at 14:35 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | and btw one reason why it's relevant is the NHS has to be much more careful about the welfare of both staff and patients where gays are involved because they're much more likely to have HIV / hepatitis / etc. | |
| May 26, 2011 at 14:33 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @Cerberus: Freaky or not, the NHS is one of the biggest employers in the world. In fact it's the biggest employer of Anglophones, by some considerable margin. Personally if I'd seen that one of the boxes was I'm in the closet I'd have fallen off my perch, but gay is definitely part of the standard lexicon in the UK today, even if it's not there (yet) in the US. | |
| May 26, 2011 at 14:25 | comment | added | Cerberus - Reinstate Monica | @FumbleFingers: That is freaky in several ways! 1. How is this relevant for his employer? It's none of his business, in my opinion. 2. I think gay is still more slangy than the other words used. It should be either Heterosexual, Bisexual, Homosexual, That is Private, or straight, bi, gay, I'm in the closet. | |
| May 26, 2011 at 13:13 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @Mike Christian: I'm not sure it's correct to say that gay is a slang word nowadays. As it happens, my gay brother received an official form from his employer today (NHS in UK), and one entry to be filled in is a multi-choice with options Heterosexual, Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay, Prefer not to say. | |
| May 26, 2011 at 1:26 | vote | accept | user1268 | ||
| May 26, 2011 at 0:50 | history | answered | Mike Christian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |