I am gay...today!
It makes me very mad when i see English words which were perfectly normal to use and have regular meaning in the English language, get "labeled" because of their connotations...
like "gay"....it ceases to mean happy, excited, exuberant, lively. the only meaning of gay, is now, homosexual. I remember i was in the 9th standard in school and in my English composition, i used the word "gay" to describe the day, the weather. I was well aware of the "other" meaning of the word, but can weather be homosexual ? but the response the teacher put in my book was disheartening to say the least! she said something to the affect "this word has come to mean something you dont want to mention in your paper"....
it is so sad that a perfectly normal word has now lost all it's innocence and genuiness.
Another word which seems to have lost it's meaning completely is "voyeur". It no more means a casual peeping Tom, all it now means is someone who seeks sexual satisfaction through visual means....oh come on, the word has another meaning, why do people overlook the "other" meaning and how is it that only that meaning is the one people seem to identify with, in the word of spoken English? I had once posted a comment somewhere with the word "voyeur" and i had to delete my comment because people thought it was misleading, when the truth is, it was perfectly harmless and innocent and was used in the proper context.
But, all that is lost, but i am now not going to let my these 2 precious words be treated like this, I am going to very well use them the way i please, and if u have a problem with that, please consult the dictionary and discover for yourself what we are missing.
I am sure there are many such words, but they seemed to have passed me by so if i do come across something I will jot it down and make sure it gets back it due and you my friend do tell me about it.
the purist in me screams sometimes too; but hey what the heck - time change, meanings change - atleast u can tell ur grandchildren that u were there when gay people weren't gay anymore!
ReplyDeleteu are funny rajat! but no i feel sorry for all the lost meaning and ignorance in the society...and i'm not gg to fall prey to it!
ReplyDeletejoin me wont u?
Megha wrote:
ReplyDelete>i feel sorry for all the lost meaning and ignorance in the society
Ignorance? How can you say this? If there's one thing I've learned, it's that ignorance and society is an oxymoron. Megha, have you read nothing about history?
- Jeremy
LOL @ jeremy..
ReplyDeleteu shud comment more often..u always crack me up!
Ok, here's another comment then.
ReplyDeleteIgnorance in society varies a lot, starting with the theoretical total ignorance (I don't think anyone is totally ignorant) to the theoretical absence of ignorance (which, due to our finite memories and other limitations, we won't reach while said limitations are in effect).
Every human falls somewhere between these two extremes and so everyone is ignorant to some degree. What's funny to me is that people often call people who they *think* are more ignorant than themselves "ignorant" and ignore the fact that: they are ignorant too, and are probably making lots of mistakes of their own due to their ignorance.
So Megha, am I acusing you of doing what I mentioned above? I'm not telling, because I'm such a tease, so I suggest that you spend the morning worrying and stressing about my opinion of you! Fun, eh? ;-)
hey MG! you are such a happy and gay person that you should not let such small things dishearten you!
ReplyDeleteChillax! I agree with Rajat totally...things change...we change...the language we speak changes...new words come in...old ones are forgotten...new meanings are made...just shows that language is still evolving and will always continue to do so...
@ jeremy:
ReplyDeletei do think u are accusing me of being ignorant...(!)...and it's ok...ofcourse i am ignorant of alot of things but i dont understand what u are trying to say here...that my being ignorant of things doesnt give me the right to have an opinion of things i care about and i am not ignorant about?
@ anu...
anu maybe u and rajat are right and that i should let go and go along with the changes in language...but it makes me mad that the original meaning is lost and how something totally innocent can be misunderstood so easily coz of a new and in some cases perverted meaning of the word!
abbe sara perversion dimag mein hai. thu bol therko jo bolna hai. language is a living thing though, and there's nothing original or artificial about it. its all real and based on norm.
ReplyDelete@ shweta..hehehe..i'll continue to do just that!
ReplyDelete@ budur..when i use shortforms, i dont mess with the meaning of the word, it's only for conveniences sakes...
so it's not the same thing :)
@ gourav
ReplyDeleteI saw that too, and he was hilarious...just a case in point would n't you say?
http://ask.yahoo.com/20061113.html
ReplyDeletewhat do u hafta say about this? doesn't feel that bad if it ain't part of your usage vocab...what say?
Hindi and Urdu are full of such examples - Jehadi, Jehad - a word to describe struggle has been distorted by media to be associated with terrorirm.
ReplyDeleteRomance - the word conjures image of some couple (usually heterosexual), a picture on the cover of a trashy novel, a movie about an affair. When was the last time you thought of this word when you saw dew drops or felt the mist on your face, the spilling glow of setting sun or the shining purple light emanating from your wine glass or when you stood for hours watching the repititively crashing waves ebbing and emerging from the bowels of the sea.
Language like religion acquires different meanings and words get distorted because they adapt to communal infuence. Ignoring present day connotation of words is almost akin fixing yourself like a rock in a sea of society. Sooner or later the rock gets eroded.
@ Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteinteresting observation!
yes that maybe it...since it doesnt affect the language i speak or the meanings of the words i use, i am probably not too concerned about it!
Thank you for opening my eyes!!!
@G:
I dont think I am ignoring the meanings of words in present day usage, my point was simply that the original meanings of words is getting lost and it makes me mad!
I am not a stick in the mud with my ways, i am open to change and the plethora of variety it brings in my world...