Connotation of the word "Gay" what does it mean?

Sabrina Brown

9/22/11

period 1

Connotation of a Word

                Words in different countries mean different things. The word gay, for example, is a word with different meanings around the world. the word gay is a sore subject for some people only because of the ways they interpret the new meaning of it but, there was a time when everyone was gay.

                The dictionary definition for gay is happy or exited. the American definition for gay is to be homosexual or to like the same sex. The U.S is trying to pass a law allowing same sex marriage in our country and this proved how distorted our country's definition of gay is. Gay has other definitions today too. As a high schooler, gay also means stupid or corny such as; "Dude, that shirt is really gay" or "hey quit being gay!" right now calling a person gay is an insult and instead if it being an adjective, it is now a noun.

                In the early seventies- late eighties, our countries definition of gay was happy or exited, this was because it was the hippie period and no one cared about problems. Smoking weed made you gay and peace made you gay. At this point in time, being called gay made you happy because it was a compliment now a days, saying that you're gay is makes you seem lesser than everyone else and maybe that’s why they're petitioning for rights because they want to show everyone that they are equal even though we don’t treat them that way.

                As it is obvious that throughout time our language has changed and become worse we as Americans, have become worse and negative toward each other.  n order to improve our lifestyles we need to respect others and what they choose to be. if others choose to be gay then respect their decision and move on because we treat people the same way we want to be treated.