Thursday, June 19, 2014

Q is for Queer


I'll have to date myself here. I remember when the word queer had nothing to do with homosexuality. It meant strange, weird, unusual. At my first job we sometimes wrote 'PDQ' at the top of the clients card - it stood for 'pretty damn queer'. This meant than they were weird or hard to get along with, not that they were gay or lesbian.

As it changed, queer was used as  a derogatory term for homosexuals. Until very recently I still thought that was true. My son tells me that this is no longer the case. He says queer is a perfectly acceptable and often you will see the group listed as LGBTQ – Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Queer (or sometimes you’ll see this as Questioning).

I still don’t use the term myself, because while it might be thought of as fine in NYC, in the small southern town where I live it’s still used as a derogatory term by some. Do any of you find it difficult to keep up with what is politically correct these days?


19 comments:

  1. Hey PK...I find it very difficult to keep up with all the politically correct words and terms. They just keep changing. :( And the kicker is that different words do not change feelings. I have seen people use politically correct terms but then act in a way that was in no way acceptable in my books.

    Hugs and Blessings...
    Cat

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    1. That's true enough. I hope if I do use a 'wrong' word, that my demeanor will convey what I really mean.

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  2. Hi PK, I find it almost impossible to kerp up with what's politically correct, it does keep changing. I agree with Cat too, I've also a lot of people use politically correct terms but their actions don't match.

    Hugs
    Roz

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    1. When I was a child we spoke of colored people, then African Americans, then Black and now often people of color. I want to be politically correct as much as possible, but I wish it would stay still!

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  3. PK,
    PC is highly dishonest, where possible I refuse to use it.
    I don't like the word queer, where possible I will use the words homosexual or lesbian, and gay is much more acceptable these days.
    Love and warm hugs,
    Paul.

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    1. This has only recently 'changed' according to LJ.

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  4. Yes, it is hard to keep up. When I think of queer, people never enter into it, to me it means something strange. Scrabble, Word with Friends and other word games won't accept the word now. it's not pc.
    Pretty soon I won't be pc either. :-), or maybe I'm not PC now,

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    1. There was is a push on now - it came on Channel One news at school to 'ban bossy' trying to make 'bossy' and offensive word because it seems to be used mostly to describe women. All we need one more word to find offensive!

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  5. I do have a hard time with some words and phrases. I would never say the word queer. But there are a lot of words and adjectives that I still tend to use that some may find not being PC. I was raised to say things like firefighter, police officer, mail carrier instead of saying fireman.

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    1. What you grow up with sticks. I wanted to put this up so that if you hear someone using the word queer - which I would recently have thought of as offensive, may not be the way the speaker intends it to be taken or the one listening. It all keeps changing.

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  6. Sorry Ronnie, I lost your comment. But I agree with you and SG - for most of my life it meant strange or unusual. But once I knew I had a gay son, I began listening more closely.

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  7. As I have grown older I no longer worry about what PC words are fashionable but how and why a word or term is used. The most innocent of words used with deliberate intent to cause harm or offence is wrong regardless of being PC or not.

    Around our place queer is still weird or unusual

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    1. I do worry some, I don't ever want to unintentionally hurt someone. But I hope people will hear my intent and not always my words.

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  8. I think being aware is important, however we are not all going to get what is PC all the time. I actually resent someone banning certain words, yet when dealing with mentally challenged individuals I remember what used to be said and then I have a moment of understanding. Now in reality I always try to be aware of changing definitions. Intent and age helps understanding!

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    1. I know that there are word that hurt people. I don't want to do that, I just can't always keep up.

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  9. Words change all the time. For awhile everything nice was 'phat' which is to say 'fat' really? And my word program will not let me use certain words like 'bean'. I tried to say 'she wanted to bean him' and it had no idea what I meant. I had to change it to 'smack'. Getting old is not for sissy's lol.

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    1. Good grief, I don't even understand some of what I'm not supposed to say.

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  10. I don't struggle with keeping up with politically correct word choice because so much of the words being considered are about parts of my identity, parts of my friends identity. Like I said in my post about questioning and queer, I came to using the word because in its reclamation, it so fits my sexual and gender expression, it includes me without implied limits as bisexual doesn't. It also includes me beyond gender-based sexual expression, which I find a sadly limiting focus.

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    1. That's what my son said. That anyone can be queer - don't have to worry about he or she. Just a person.

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