Word teminology? Very simple question?....

...If being a heterosexual is deemed as "Straight" does being Gay or Lesbian equate to being "Bent?" ...I ask this because I've never heard a true opposite word used in that respect. So tell me is it Politically Correct to use the term "straight" anymore?
...just curious?

 

Have you ever heard of "idiom"?

An idiom's figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning.

 

The "straight" term is owned by GLBT people. Since they use it to describe heterosexual people there's probably no real antonym. "Bent", in my experience - not being an American I hasten to add - is usually used to describe someone who is corrupt, e.g. "he's a bent copper".

 

There was a time if you told someone to "get bent" it was similar to p..ss off

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Isn't that one of the 57 states visited by Obama?

 

It's funny. It's just how my brain works. I guess you could say it's kind of like when George Carlin questioned the oxymoron term "Jumbo shrimp"

 

It used to mean "Straight and Narrow" in less enlightened times, it was about upholding puritanical sexual mores. That's also where the word Kinky comes from, meaning not *quite* straight.

The word has transcended the offensive connotations it originally had though. Kind of like how the word queer as an adjective is reclaimed. Queer as a noun is still insulting for some reason though. I don't know why, words aren't logical.

 

Actually, "bent" was indeed applied pejoratively to gay people at one time. Thanks so much for the reminder.

I care more about civility than so-called "political correctness"

 

I don't like it, whether used as an adjective or a noun. If someone else wants to call themselves "queer", they're certainly welcome to, but they should never presume to use that word on me, and I will never use it to describe myself. I have more self-respect than that. To me, "queer" is little different from the six letter word that starts with 'f', has a couple of 'g's in the middle, and ends in a 't'.

Not a fan.

 

I like it because it feels confrontational. It doesn't feel like the passive, gay-best-friend adjective that doesn't get loud. Queer makes me think of William S Burroughs, unapologetic and aggressive in pushing against the prevailing norms and traditions.

 

The term "gay" has had a bit if a strange genesis. As far as I have researched the term ment merry. In the mid 1800s it was used to describe a man that visited prostitutes. They were merry, "wink wink nudge nudge."

Eventually the word became a euphemism for homosexuals.

I am not sure about the term "straight" but I imagine it was coined as a term to distinguish non gay people from gay people without having to say heterosexual or homosexual.

I believe in the early twenties, it may have been earlier a psychologist coined the term "homosexual" and thought that it was a very offensive term. Perhaps others thought it was as well in the time.

If you ask me what term I prefer its homosexual. But as far as PC goes. I don't really know and further I don't particularly care.

 

Confrontational or provocative? I would say it's more the latter. I don't have a problem confronting people when they spout crap, but I don't see the point of being provocative and in-your-face. I think that just creates backlash. While I wouldn't curb the rights of people to express themselves in ways I find outrageous, when they're getting all the attention and being the only face of 'gayness' that some people see, it just makes it seem as if people like me, who lead a relatively inconspicuous and boring life by comparison, don't exist.

I don't think it helps the average gay person in their daily life.

 

Straight; see the middle entry: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=straight&allowed_in_frame=0

Gay: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gay&allowed_in_frame=0

Queery: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=queer&allowed_in_frame=0

Bent; no applicable entry in the etymology online dictionary, but there is this from the Urban Dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bent&defid=1434183

Homosexual: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=homosexual&allowed_in_frame=0

As to what I prefer, I use 'gay' as a shortcut, but my overall preference is for accuracy, so "same-sex oriented". I don't like "queer" because I lived with that as a pejorative growing up. I also don't like "homosexual" because I view it as a linguistic abomination, and its origins as a clinical term from the days when same-sex orientation was classified as a form of mental illness doesn't sit well, either.

 

In reference to Bent, people may also find this entry for the play (starring Richard Gere) interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bent_(play)

 

Trust me! I Truly was asking a question about word terms.....don't want to cause any confrontation by my question.

 

Though I will say I am a bit on the fence about the Gay agenda....I also can respect it. Without going into much detail...A great personal friend of mind (who i worked with) came down with HIV. He pulled me aside from work when we were leaving...I'll never forget....he said "Kris I have it" ....l looked at him an said..."have what?" ...he said HIV! ...we just stood there for a minute and then his eyes started to cry up!....the only thing I could do was hug him...we both held eachother for 2 to 3 minutes. He was a great friend! I lost touch with him.... I recently head heard he had passed. He truly was a good friend. I miss Tony!

 

The only agenda I have is the protection of what I view as my right to be equal; phrases like "gay agenda" are dogwhistles for opponents of that equality, and render your otherwise good intentions immediately suspect to those of us who have to deal with this day in and day out.

I'm not saying that I think you're some kind of anti-gay troll; I'm telling you that you're using the same language they do, and that makes you look like a troll to us.

 

I'll call your response BS!! Just because someone is not lock and step with your way of thinking is not something you should step on your high horse about. You need to realize that what you say is not Gospel!

 

Who the hell is "us" by the way? You are the type that makes us straight people want to tell you where to go!

 

We just want equal rights. You seem to think that we have a wider and more ideological goal, and we come off as aggressively pushing that to you, but we don't, so when you say that you disagree with us we assume you're disagreeing with giving us equal rights.

 

[video=youtube;VxNuQDxnECU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxNuQDxnECU[/video]

 

What I'm noticing when someone (as in me) tries to meet half way...that doesn't work! "Your way or the highway!" .....whatever

 

We don't know what you want to meet us halfway on. I'm sure you can understand how this issue is particularly sensitive to us though, and why we can get angry over what we perceive to be people arguing against our equality.

I don't think you're bigoted though. I just think there's a communication problem. So let's fix this: What exactly are you on the fence about?

 

I don't like the flamboyancy of many gay men - it makes me want to puke when I see a man acting like a woman. I also question whether SSM will open a Pandoras box to many other things which could get very complicated in the future. Those are my two biggest issues.

 

When it comes to meeting halfway. Just be tolerant to people like me who are also trying to be tolerant - even if we are all not 100% on board.

 

So you don't believe that my only agenda is the protection of what I view as my right to be equal? Do enlighten me on what you think you know about my so-called agenda, then.

You seemed like you might be a reasonable person, but your reply is making me have second thoughts about that. I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, thinking that maybe you didn't know the origins of the phrase "gay agenda", and didn't realize that it's part of the preferred rhetoric of anti-gay bigots and trolls. I was hoping you didn't wish to associate yourself with them. In other words, I was trying to help you avoid unnecessarily provoking and offending people with whom you're trying to have a reasonable discussion.

Apparently I was wrong? That you really did use the phrase in question to provoke? Or would you like to clarify where you stand?

Here's something else for you to consider: It doesn't matter how many gay friends you can claim, or the anecdotes you tell us about them. Those things become suspect when you use the language of our opponents.

You need to realize that I have dealt with a LOT of anti-gay bigots in my 50+ years of living, and not just in this forum. It's to the point where I could almost do their side of the dialog for them. So I know what I'm talking about when it comes to phrases like "the gay agenda". Mabye you'd like to explain to us what you meant by using that phrase.