• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Why do you think calling someone "retarded" is alright but "faggot" gets you banned?

Status
Not open for further replies.

pakkit

Banned
Rur0ni said:
It's an attempt to get the retarded word banned, along with anything else that can be grossly offensive. Next on the list, midget.
It's an attempt to point out that GAF's female moderator goes on banning sprees when people say that women lack driving skills, and then turns around and calls people "retarded."

Because in the GAF-universe, playing along with stupid stereotypes is more ban-worthy then accusing people of real-life mental deficiency.

GAF can't decide if it wants to be the New Yorker or 4chan.

ItAintEasyBeinCheesy said:
Both words have lost their original meaning.
Plenty of words have lost their meaning, that doesn't mean they're not loaded.
 

lsslave

Jew Gamer
Rur0ni said:
It's an attempt to get the retarded word banned, along with anything else that can be grossly offensive. Next on the list, midget.

HEY NOW! If you guys make it bannable for me to go "Wassup my midget" I will protest the streets!

Besides, I like to call short people "Santa's helpers"
 

Phobophile

A scientist and gentleman in the manner of Batman.
bjork said:
"Packet of fags"
I'm not your fag, mate.
1175e
 

Rur0ni

Member
ItAintEasyBeinCheesy said:
Both words have lost their original meaning.
Kinda like when you're playing CSS and you get awped through double doors on d2 and you're like... "That was gay... meh."
 

usea

Member
I believe it's actually against the rules to insult another poster at all. Regardless of what words you use.
 

btkadams

Member
I.F. said:
What, is there a secondary meaning to that word that I'm not aware of?
fruitcake:
1. A derogatory term for a homosexual man.

2. Someone who is completely insane.

3. A cake made with bits of fruit and drenched in scotch.
 
When I use retard I'm generally meaning someone is holding back themselves or their argument by taking a stance that hinders their argument.

I don't use the term to describe people.
 
btkadams said:
fruitcake:
1. A derogatory term for a homosexual man.

2. Someone who is completely insane.

3. A cake made with bits of fruit and drenched in scotch.
Are you fucking kidding me? Is that for real?
 

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I'd never use the word "Faggot" or it's derivatives to describe something. Simply because it's a totally offensive word. Instead my kind of phrase would be something like "Depeche Mode's song 'Boys Say Go' is the gayest shit I've ever heard."
 
btkadams said:
did you seriously not know that's what it meant? that is what it means when someone calls someone a fruit or a fruitcake.
"Fruitcake" has always meant crazy for as long as I can remember. Since when have people been trying to turn it into something offensive for homosexuals? Do you have a source for that?

And more to the point, I think of it as a generic insult without specific meaning - I don't use it when someone is acting particularly nutty, it's a put-down like "cupcake."
 

lsslave

Jew Gamer
btkadams said:
did you seriously not know that's what it meant? that is what it means when someone calls someone a fruit or a fruitcake.

Insane and gay? Well mister btkadams, I recommend you check your facebook wall!
 

Barrett2

Member
Anyone know when the non-pejorative meaning/s of 'faggot' fell out of common usage in English in the US? I would assume its when the pejorative use entered common usage.

IIRC, I read an article on 'curse words' and etymology a few years ago. There are a lot of words with bland meanings in current usage which used to be very offensive. It was really interesting.
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
While I respect efforts to preserve the dignity of mentally disabled people, getting humans, an organism that depends on intelligence for both its survival and identity, to not stigmatize acts representative of disappointing levels of mental capacity is a non-starter.
 

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I.F. said:
"Fruitcake" has always meant crazy for as long as I can remember. Since when have people been trying to turn it into something offensive for homosexuals? Do you have a source for that?

Well the word "queer" originally means strange. Throughout the centuries in different cultures a lot of words and phrases meaning "strange", "crazy", etc got turned into offensive euphemisms for gay people.
 

cwmartin

Member
I.F. said:
"Fruitcake" has always meant crazy for as long as I can remember. Since when have people been trying to turn it into something offensive for homosexuals? Do you have a source for that?


I imagine that would be like sourcing when cool started to mean what it meant.
 

btkadams

Member
I.F. said:
"Fruitcake" has always meant crazy for as long as I can remember. Since when have people been trying to turn it into something offensive for homosexuals? Do you have a source for that?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_(slang)

go ahead and do some reading on it if you like. to be honest, i've never even heard someone mean it as a crazy person, always as a derogatory term for homosexuals. you learn something new everyday!
 

lsslave

Jew Gamer
lawblob said:
Anyone know when the non-pejorative meaning/s of 'faggot' fell out of common usage in English in the US? I would assume its when the pejorative use entered common usage.

IIRC, I read an article on 'curse words' and etymology a few years ago. There are a lot of words with bland meanings in current usage which used to be very offensive. It was really interesting.

It would largely be due to the fact that American slang is derived from multiple sources, you must remember that the largest reason why there are multiple accents and sociological norms in the US is because there are roots in French, Spanish, and English.

This mix of societies in the early days leading to the union of the country is largely a reason for the change in dialect from the Britain variation of English (which has changed a lot since that era, but carries a lot of nuances from its original form)
 

Superman00

Liverpool01
I.F. said:
"Fruitcake" has always meant crazy for as long as I can remember. Since when have people been trying to turn it into something offensive for homosexuals? Do you have a source for that?

:lol , your like a decade late man. Fruitcake has been use as another term for f*gg*t for a long time now. I just find fruitcake to have a much less harsh tone than f*gg*t.
 
Well whatever "cupcake" is almost as good.

Unless that's also offensive to someone?

Superman00 said:
:lol , your like a decade late man. Fruitcake has been use as another term for f*gg*t for a long time now. I just find fruitcake to have a much less harsh tone than f*gg*t.
I've heard it used as an insult but never in a context that would lead me to conclude that what the person was saying was "you're gay."
 

Replicant

Member
Rur0ni said:
Kinda like when you're playing CSS and you get awped through double doors on d2 and you're like... "That was gay... meh."

You're playing with cascading style sheet?

And when I get frustrated I'd just say, "well, that was annoying/sucks". I never understand the need to associate the word 'gay' to describe an unpleasant experience.
 

Calcaneus

Member
Hitokage said:
While I respect efforts to preserve the dignity of mentally disabled people, getting humans, an organism that depends on intelligence for both its survival and identity, to not stigmatize acts representative of disappointing levels of mental capacity is a non-starter.
Well there are definitely better words to use that carry out the same task.
 
industrian said:
Well the word "queer" originally means strange. Throughout the centuries in different cultures a lot of words and phrases meaning "strange", "crazy", etc got turned into offensive euphemisms for gay people.

Any other 70s/80s kids remember a book series called "Something Queer is Going On"?
 

Chamber

love on your sleeve
I.F. said:
Well whatever "cupcake" is almost as good.

Unless that's also offensive to someone?
cupcake 75 up, 52 down love it hate it

when someone cups their hand over their ass when they fart and throw the now handheld fart in your face
I am offended.
 

pakkit

Banned
lawblob said:
Anyone know when the non-pejorative meaning/s of 'faggot' fell out of common usage in English in the US? I would assume its when the pejorative use entered common usage.
Probably when lighting fires stopped becoming common practice.

The term as we know it today comes from that meaning anyway. It is insinuating that homosexuals deserve to be burned alive for their sins.

Most curse words stem from the original meaning.

But really, I.F., you should probably stop calling people fruitcake if you don't even know the meaning that it carries.
 
btkadams said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_(slang)

go ahead and do some reading on it if you like. to be honest, i've never even heard someone mean it as a crazy person, always as a derogatory term for homosexuals. you learn something new everyday!


I've heard the phrase, "nutty as a fruitcake" used before by older people.



funkmastergeneral said:
I'm partial to poof, myself

Heard this for the first time when watching RocnRolla...really got a kick out of it for a few days :lol
 

pakkit

Banned
Cyan said:
"Nutty as a fruitcake." It's an older expression.
You're using it in idiomatic form now, though. When you call someone a "fruitcake," you're implying that they're homosexual.
 
pakkit said:
But really, I.F., you should probably stop calling people fruitcake if you don't even know the meaning that it carries.
Well, again, I've never heard it in a context that would imply homosexuality. I always assumed that the underlying insult was "crazy" but that even that lost its meaning. If anything I would have guessed it would mean something like "pussy" but less harsh. I thought I was using a really innocuous insult.

Obviously now I'll switch to something else because it's lost its point.

pakkit said:
You're using it in idiomatic form now, though. When you call someone a "fruitcake," you're implying that they're homosexual.
Wikipedia says that both forms can imply crazy. Calling someone "fruitcake" is shorthand for "nutty as a fruitcake".

shuri said:
fruitcake is for idiot, its not an equivalent of faggot. What the fuck?
It's kind of bullshit that it's okay for many years and then suddenly it's not okay.
 

UraMallas

Member
We had one of these threads a couple of months ago and I'm in the camp that says "all or nothing." Either both should be fine (my preference) or neither should be fine (which I'd be fine with.)

lawblob said:
Retarded also has a non-pejorative meaning in current use, faggot no longer has a current non-pejorative meaning in use.
You don't know what you're talking about. Used as a noun, they're both derogatory. If you call someone a retard, it's derogatory 100% of the time, especially when calling a mentally disabled person that. I'm not going to get into this debate again, but the only reason it's okay to use "retard" on here or "that's retarded" is because unlike the homosexual community, there isn't really any presence of mentally disabled people on this board and even if there were, they couldn't defend themselves against it... which almost makes it worse, in my eyes.
 

UraMallas

Member
Mr.Potato Head said:
Well that doesent make much sense..what about the real retarded people on this earth? They surely didnt choose to be retarded...
I think that was the joke. He's showing the hypocrisy in the stance.
 

Barrett2

Member
UraMallas said:
We had one of these threads a couple of months ago and I'm in the camp that says "all or nothing." Either both should be fine (my preference) or neither should be fine (which I'd be fine with.)


You don't know what you're talking about. Used as a noun, they're both derogatory. If you call someone a retard, it's derogatory 100% of the time, especially when calling a mentally disabled person that. I'm not going to get into this debate again, but the only reason it's okay to use "retard" on here or "that's retarded" is because unlike the homosexual community, there isn't really any presence of mentally disabled people on this board and even if there were, they couldn't defend themselves against it... which almost makes it worse, in my eyes.

Are you really that ignorant?
 

Speevy

Banned
Because truthfully, even if a mentally disabled person posted on Neogaf and said he was offended by the word "retard", no one would care, whereas the forum distinguishes itself as one of the few gaming communities where saying you're gay is welcome.

I haven't posted on a great many message boards, and I can only think of a few that were downright hateful to people of a certain sexual orientation, but Neogaf is definitely the first one with a gay community that I can remember.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom