Words, for the most part, only have the power you give them.

I grew up on the 80's. "That's so gay!" was standard vocabulary. Not a single one of us, at 12 years old, thought about gay people when we said it.

Just like kids don't think of sick people when they say their friend's new ipod is "totally sick, man!"

Just like, being Polish, I don't get my panties in a wad over Polish jokes or, when I was blonde, didn't get mad at blonde jokes. I don't get upset when people talk about BDSM or kink as being deviant.

Words just don't have that much power, to me, unless they're intentionally hurtful. Intent is everything.

I do teach my son to be careful with how he speaks, to not say things that may be hurtful to others, to not run around the mall cussing and acting a fool. But, hell, half the words teenagers use today don't even make sense to me. None of them mean what they actually mean - and I look at "gay" in that context the same way.

I'm not 12 anymore. I rarely say it anymore - though I'll admit that each generation DOES hold on to the words of it's youth.

Just last week a friend of mines mom was telling me how... totally hip she is and how her husband was such a square. I'm guessing she didn't mean the hip bone or the four sided shape... less

And honestly, why do people feel the need to use the terms "gay" or "retarded" in exchange for stupid or silly? Can they not just say the latter? I am at a loss of understanding here, regardless of the whole "words have the meaning you give them."

I also do not feel that just because homosexuals use it is it any better, or an excuse. less