3:34pm March 8, 2014

words can be misleading

realsocialskills:

Words that have the same sort of semantic shape can mean radically different things. It doesn’t matter what they logically should mean. It matters what they actually do mean.

For instance: “pride”

• Gay pride means asserting that gay people are legitimate and have the right to live and love
• Straight pride means asserting that straight people are better than gay people

It’s important to understand how words are actually used. If you rely too much on logic rather than actual usage, you can end up inadvertently saying really hateful things.

Yes and even outside those two definitions of pride.. I’ve heard people, even some gay people, say “Why should I have gay pride?  Pride is something that comes from accomplishment.  Being gay isn’t an accomplishment.”  And while I’d never force anyone to use the word gay pride on themselves, I get really annoyed when, despite repeated explanations, people insist on using a definition of a word that they’ve been told doesn’t apply.  People who say what I just described, usually don’t stop at not using the term gay pride on themselves.  They then go down to put down any gay person who does use the term – telling them it’s illogical, or doesn’t make sense, or fosters vanity and pride (in the ‘seven deadly sins’ sense), or other things like that.

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