Thursday, October 16, 2008

Having a Way With Words...

The people at the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) have finally taken to the airwaves in an effort to curb one of my biggest pet peeves: human stupidity with language.

Their newest campaign, Think Before You Speak, targets the overuse (especially among teenagers) of the phrase "that's so gay" when commenting on stupid or funny things. Personally, I have heard it a lot and most of the time, it has irritated me to say the least. Can't people be a little more original and less stupid?

Here's one of their ads, featuring Wanda Sykes:

2 comments:

Buck said...

Thanks for that post! I'm so tired of hearing that I could scream. It's bad enough with ignorant kids say it but the other day I heard the PARENT of a teenager say it. This person is a friend! If looks could kill I'd be sending flowers to the widow!

Jeanne said...

Unfortunately the media bears a strong resonsibility for pushing this image.
Think of the character of Jack in "Will & Grace"? The assistant in "Ugly Betty"?
What's sad is that some young and ignorant gays think it's a way of being one of the crowd of straight "friends" by joining in with this expression.
It's as upsetting to me as people buying into the stereotype that all gays have great fashion sense and that automatically makes them fabulous designers and interior decorators.
It dismays me when people buy into any stereotype - especially when it's the folks being ridiculed or harangued.