The Use of the Word "Gay" in Youth Language

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, University of Trier, language: English, abstract: "That's so gay" is a phrase that is nowadays used frequently among young adults, one might hear it in everyday speech or see it in written form as comments on social networks, in forums or blogs on the internet. In most of these cases young adults do not refer to people that are homosexual but most of the time to things they dislike. But why do they use this phrase so frequently? What was the original meaning of the word "gay" and do homosexuals see this phrase as an insult? In the following I am going to investigate the origin of the word "gay" and what young adults mean when the use phrases like "That's so gay" and how often they use this expression. Furthermore, I am going to deal with the impacts the use of the word "gay" in youth language might have on homosexuals and bisexuals and I will investigate if they feel insulted by this phrase. I conducted a survey in which 40 participants between the age of 16 and 28, half of them were male and the other half were female, were asked if they used phrases like "That's so gay" and if so, if they use it rarely, sometimes or frequently. They were also asked if they used this expression in a deprecative way and with which words they would equalize "gay" when they use it not to refer to homosexuality. Other questions in the survey were why they use it and if they think that homosexuals and bisexuals feel insulted by the use of the word. I am also going to compare my findings to the findings of other surveys.