Lexicon Valley on "Faggot"

Comments

I've never bought into the idea that groups can "reclaim" offensive words. By reclaiming the word, you literally retard its meaning and highlight its offensiveness. That's taking a step backwards.

When the NBA fines alleged-rapist Kobe Bryant for calling someone a faggot, that's progress. Louis CK notwithstanding--today, only stupid people w/ limited vocabularies use faggot to described people/things they hate.

Čẖüñđƴ on February 13, 2012 at 8:12 PM

Words are how they are used. If its use changes, its meaning changes. If you cordon off the word and say that it's unusable, then it will mean what it means forever. You're basically ensuring that it will have the same place that it has now -- and much the same power as an insult -- forever. Better to let it change and as the usefulness of it disappears (eg, as society becomes less inclined to use an epithet to refer to homosexuals), that meaning will be lost to history.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s13e12-the-f-word

on February 14, 2012 at 2:52 AM

@TheFword: SO SPEAKETH THE PRIVELEGE.

Graham on February 14, 2012 at 8:46 AM