I don't see what the fuss is about. Words can have more than meaning. Gay being no exception and it is perfectly acceptable in various contexts.

These days the word fu**ing has moved from it's true meaning (which is the act of having sex) to another way of saying 'very'.

If I say "It's fu**ing cold outside". People get the message. They don't think why is he talking about shagging...

Well I am of ethnic origin myself and I am gay - although I feel that racism whilst not extinct is certainly at least frowned upon, homophobia is still pretty much acceptable it seems to me.

Visual or not, I don't see why people who consider themselves educated should still be prejudiced in this way.

The f word is not a word of prejudice, although your point is valid it shouldn't be compared to a word that describes a minority in society.

Precisely, and people using gay to mean lame, isn't exactly a new thing, I've heard people using it for that meaning for the last 15 years. That said, I wouldn't use it myself.

It seems like people here, are straining to make out that Tim is homophobic. If they really want to prove it, they don't need to look for such thin arguments, just watch the spin the bottle kissing game again. It comes up for PJ and Tim to snog, and Tim says, "I'm not doing it, I'm homophobic" so he's actually admitted it!

who cares what he says about 'the gays' it is simply postmodern irony

i wouldn't share a toilet seat with one meself though

On the basis of that argument you are saying that if, for example, he found something that one of the housemates was doing a bit strange and he told them he thought they were acting a bit queer, then this is unacceptable. Despite the fact that queer is a perfectly acceptable word that can describe something that is odd or eccentric. You are saying that it cannot be used because it is a derogatory way of describing a homosexual even if it is used in a different context.

Your argument doesn't hold up and I think you are going a bit OTT with the whole PC thing.

Having read through the previous posts varying from light-hearted comments to vitriolic declarations of hatred, there are some things that should be clarified. First, the interpretations made of Tim's behaviour are clearly biased so that almost anything he says is seen as another indicator of his 'bad' character. Second, some of the accusations levelled at him are paradoxical in nature ie. "I loathe Tim and his type".Third, the problems people have with certain language is ingrained within society. So lets deal with everyone's enlightened interpretations first...

The consensus seems to be that Tim is a VERY bad person, deserving of labels such as "w***ker", "homophobe" (used almost as a swear word) or being someone worthy of being "loathed" and "despised". Now it may well be true that he has said a joke that is abhorrent or used the word gay in a derogatory way. Yet we all know people who are prey to making similar comments and even if we might not laugh we don't judge them purely as a result of their mistake. It seems as though Tim has become the bullying-boy of not only this discussion board but the national media as well. And of course we have to ask why. Could it not be that people wanted to dislike him from the very start due to his upbringing, class, recognition of his class and general cockiness? When others, who we consider not to be of his "social standing" do the same we just say, 'what an idiot' or ignore it. Perhaps if you think for one moment you can appreciate that what he has done cannot corollate to the judgements made of him and that our hasty decision to hate him is unfair at best and more likely wrong.

You might not be convinced, allowing the lynch-mob mentality to influence you beyond reason. Consider, then, those who "hate his type", call him names which in themselves are generalisations and decide to loathe him. Now is that not a bit hypocritical? A person who loathes any "type" is being prejudiced, deciding to pidgeonhole everyone that they see into convenient groups, yet they loathe that "type" for being prejudiced. If that judgement is made, they themselves are doing the same thing! Similarly, think of the word "posh". What does that mean? Are we talking accent or perhaps income, or maybe even the heinous crime of being different to the majority? That is to say, by judging Tim as "bad" are we not doing the same thing that we loathe him for?

Finally, to add to the debate on words and their meaning, let's fill in some gaps;

Sexist words; tw*t, c**t, b***h, cow etc. (notice how male genitalia words are always more "jokey" than female ones)
Racist words; kraut, frog, yank, dago, any nationality preceeded by the word "bloody" eg. bloody Germans
Misc; ba***rd, moron

We all use at least one of these words when we talk about others. Fact is, by assasinating Tim's character on the basis of him using a particular word is surely unfair as long as the language that we are born into is as prejudiced as English (or any other language for that matter) plainly is.

I'm not a big fan of Tim's but I would like to think I see him as a human being not a thing to to be despised. By throwing hatred at him we can only do what we accuse him of doing........


Can