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λ The usage of 'gay' as a noun: acceptable or not?
Arcana
Posts: 37,521 Forum Member
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On checking the dictionary I use, it states 'sometimes offensive'. I'm not gay so I'd be interested to hear opinions.
Is using 'gay' as a noun acceptable? 99 votes
YES
43%
43 votes
NO
36%
36 votes
Depends (please elaborate)
20%
20 votes
0
Comments
As a gay myself, I don't find it especially offensive..
This thread is going to be closed quicker than the Caterham F1 team
I think he means in situations where some kids in the playground calling the XBox One 'Gay', or people who leave youtube comments calling the other person's comments 'Gay'
In other words Gay being used as an insult. Of course I may be wrong, the OP needs to explain
I would very strongly disagree with that. Indeed, I'm surprised such a question would seriously be asked.
Yes, the OP does need to clarify, and quick.
How could that sense of "gay" be a noun?
"Gay" as a singular noun sounds a bit strange and unnecessary, so I wouldn't recommend it. However I think "gays" in the plural is OK as informal shorthand for lesbians and gay men, but perhaps not suitable for say a newspaper article.
Is it acceptable to refer to someone as 'A gay' or a group of people as 'gays'?
Not really, no. It sounds rather odd in the singular, as I said earlier.
Popularised in "Little Britain", where one character always referred to himself as "a gay"! That was just for humorous effect though.
I'm not bothered about the grammatical accuracy. More important was the intention, which the OP has now clarified.
I recommend you do just that. Approach strangers in the street and ask if they are 'A Gay'
Old meaning: We're having a gay time.
New meaning: She's gay.
Also, the old meaning of gay as a noun was a gallant/bright/excellent noble (gender neutral) or a person of excellent character. This became obsolete a couple of centuries ago.
Yes, I think gay as a noun doesn't work for me.
Thanks for your 'recommendation' but don't you think it's far more convenient to ask strangers in an internet forum?
And "Wilmaaaaa"
Why should "gay" be excluded from that normal English language practice?
It is funny how words can be so snatched from the vocabulary and given such unique associations.
Yeah. Pretty much.
Eh? Scot and Brit aren't adjectives! Don't think redhead is either.
None on your list is an adjective, though. All are nouns.
It's the exact equivalent to calling someone 'a black', or saying that the pub was 'full of blacks'.
There is a strong general preference for using adjectives rather than nouns in contexts like this. If you say, "the pub was full of gays" is sounds slightly dehumanising. If people can understand why we don't refer to people as 'blacks' they can understand why it is politer to say 'gay people' rather than 'gays'.
Further back, it was considered quite all right to call people 'cripples', which was nice and short, certainly much shorter than 'disabled people' or 'people with disabilities'. More recently, "a spastic" was considered the normal way to refer to people with cerebral palsy, and "a mongol" to someone with downs syndrome. I am glad that those two have gone, especially as both words (often shortened) had become mere playground insults. . For some reason a noun was generally only used of people with mobility problems: we never had people saying, "the pub was full of blinds", or "deafs need special consideration".
I wouldn't dream of saying "He/she's a gay" unless I was being ironic.