This popped up in my Tumblr feed. If you can’t be bothered to click, it’s a set of pictures explaining that calling someone “gay” as an insult doesn’t (and shouldn’t) work, because the people being called gay either aren’t gay or don’t (and shouldn’t) care that they are being called gay.

My first thought was, “fair enough”.

Then I thought, hang on; part of John Green’s argument is explaining what the word “gay” means, and why it can’t be applied to a video (which doesn’t have a gender and, thus, cannot be attracted to the same gender), and that got me thinking.

“Gay” didn’t always mean homosexual. Once upon a time, it was used to describe someone who is merry or cheerful. Words change meaning all the time.

In my own circles, I have often heard the word “gay” used as a joking insult. This kind of behavior is mocked in the brilliant film, Shaun of the Dead, where Simon Pegg’s character declares that he “loves” his girlfriend, and Nick Frost replies, “Alright! Gay.”

Context is difficult to get across in text comments, and it could be that the people John Green refers to are exclusively the kind of people who use the word “gay” with venom, but I can’t remember the last time I heard someone use the word as insult who wasn’t joking around or being playful.

So, at what point do we consider the meaning of a word changed? I’m sure there would be a number of offended homosexuals if “gay” were to just become an alternative for “not good” or “lame”, but that only makes me wonder how many cheerful and merry people were offended when the word started getting used to describe people who like people of the same sex.

This is more thinking out loud; I’m not decided myself, but the thought interested me.

What do you think?