Extended Definition Essay (Research Sample)

Colonel Chicken
Ms. Clapp
English Literature
September 9, 2008

Gay
Oxford English Definition:

Synonyms - Lively, Carefree, Merry, Cheerful, Feminine, Homosexual, Stupid, worthless
Antonyms - Depressing, Colorless, Cheerless, Joyless, Non-indulgent, heterosexual, masculine

The word “gay” dates back into the 14th century with its definition as “full of or disposed to joy and manifesting or characterized by joyous light-heated, exuberantly cheerful ; addicted to social pleasures; Bright or lively-looking, esp. in color; Finely or showily dressed; In immaterial sense: Brilliant, attractive, charming; Brilliantly good; excellent, fine; In good health; well, convalescent”. However in more recent times it is used to identify anything considered even remotely homosexual and usually, if not always, comes with the connotation of being an insult. Gay has taken on a whole entire meaning as most use the word as a derogatory term to identify an object or a person as useless (i.e. “That’s a gay shirt” “You’re gay”). It has now become a synonym of the word stupid. In modern times, the Flinestones’ theme song which ends with “we’ll have a gay ol’ time” doesn’t not convey the same image to 20th century children compared to children who watched the program when it first started airing.
Synonyms for gay are any word that relates to happiness or being lively and flashy. However in the fine modern time of excessively unneeded homophobia, gay is more used more as a derogatory term and so words relating to effeminate, homosexual, and stupid can be added to its ever-expanding synonym list. Antonyms of gay are the obvious sad and scrubby along with any word relating to or buffing up one’s masculinity and heterosexuality.
Gay is now commonly used to identify a homosexual and also used as an adjective to describe something that is bad. And by associating homosexuality with the connotation of being stupid and unwanted, the term gay has u-turned from a complement to the ultimate insult. Many use it in order to buff up their heterosexuality and subtlety state that by using the word, he/she is not gay themselves. Others use the word solely as a derogatory term because they are either ignorant of its true definition or crack under social pressure because every other person in society uses gay in its derogatory form.
The negative connotation that comes with gay, spawning probably from homophobia, must be relinquished as it sets back the gay community decades of fighting for equal rights. Not only does using gay as a derogatory term indirectly show others that it is alright to discriminate as using such a word gives the user a connotation of being superior to homosexuals, but it also segregates the gay community and discourages many gay individuals from being themselves.