There’s an AP article out today in which rapper Kanye West talks about using the word “gay” as an antonym to hip-hop (or presumably to “cool” or whatever you might use as a positive affirmation when you’re with your friends). The article can be found here:

Kanye West Calls for End to Gay Bashing

It just happens that I’ve recently considered my own use of the word gay as a negative affirmation. Now, I believe that gay people should be treated equally, not just under the law but by society too, and I know that the usage I’m describing of the word gay derived out of a negative connotation towards homosexuality. I just don’t care about the origin of this or any other word.

The reason I don’t care is that words can and do have multiple meanings and their origin is often irrelevant. The nature of language is that it evolves. A word can start out meaning one thing, be used to mean something else, and end up taking on an entirely new meaning (or meanings).

Think about it for a minute. Do you go around speaking ancient Greek or Latin? No. Language has evolved so far away from those languages that we can no longer recognize even a tiny fraction of them. Granted, these changes happen slowly, one word at a time. Sometimes the meaning changes, sometimes the pronunciation, and sometimes the spelling. The point is that they do happen.

Anytime you get into an argument over semantics you’ve moved away from discussing the actual issue. People need to be a little less sensitive and a little more focused. In this instance they should be more focused on equality.

Let me jump back to the evolution of language real quick. I have another beef to bring up. I’m from Texas and I’m sick and tired of people who say “ain’t isn’t a word” or “y’all isn’t a word” or “<insert southern word, expression, or contraction here> isn’t a word.” They are all words. If I can use it in a sentence and you can understand it, it’s a word. Again, the nature of language is that it is constantly evolving, whether you want it to or not. And anybody who says otherwise is soooo gay.

Update: I just realized that my calling things gay almost certainly arose from watching too much South Park. The creators of which are almost certainly gay. Those kids call everything gay. I want to be just like Matt Stone and/or Trey Parker when I grow up (except for the part about being gay).

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