And I'm saying that you're instantly looking on the negative side of things instead of - Edit 1
Before modification by Rebekah at 08/09/2010 10:47:10 PM
giving her the benefit of the doubt.
Not really, no. They are so very far apart, and have vastly different cultural heritages.
Nor does faggot in the usual Australian/NZ definition, which is the major point here.
She's not much younger than me, no. And what did I see on TV when I was young? British shows, Australian shows, Sesame Street, and repeats on things like Gilligan's Island, I Love Lucy, and shows like that. In her formative years, the years that matter most for acquisition of language, those are the kinds of things she'd have seen. (My family in Australia, in Sydney and Queensland, certainly grew up with those shows, some of them cousins 10 years younger than me.) So most likely for her, that would be the meaning of the word. Weakling. Wimp. But not necessarily homosexual. I didn't really come across that till I moved here.
I can't speak to those cultures because I don't know them very well. I do know in similar groups I've interacted with, I spent some time a box factory outside of Johannesburg, faggot definitely meant queer. I know South Africa isn't New Zealand, but they're similar enough in this instance, no?
Not really, no. They are so very far apart, and have vastly different cultural heritages.
But arsehole doesn't target a specific population and denigrate them. Everyone has an arsehole, and if someone is being an arse, you're calling them out for their behavior. Calling someone a faggot is different.
Nor does faggot in the usual Australian/NZ definition, which is the major point here.
But she is not. She's 22, if I recall the article correctly, which means she would have been born in 88, well after the timeframe you put on the American Influence becoming big. She would have grown up hearing it in its more recent context and meaning as well as from older male relatives in the older context.
She's not much younger than me, no. And what did I see on TV when I was young? British shows, Australian shows, Sesame Street, and repeats on things like Gilligan's Island, I Love Lucy, and shows like that. In her formative years, the years that matter most for acquisition of language, those are the kinds of things she'd have seen. (My family in Australia, in Sydney and Queensland, certainly grew up with those shows, some of them cousins 10 years younger than me.) So most likely for her, that would be the meaning of the word. Weakling. Wimp. But not necessarily homosexual. I didn't really come across that till I moved here.
If there's no underlying dislike for queer folk, fine, she'll go on, none the worse for having looked inside herself. If she looks, and realizes she does have an issue, she can address it.
What's the problem with that?
The problem I have is that there's no need for deep soul-searching if she didn't know that meaning of the word, which really isn't an unlikely scenario considering the culture of Downunder. You seem to be assuming that she did.
If she didn't then soul-searching about her opinion of homosexuality is not necessary. She knows what she thinks about that.
The problem I have is that there's no need for deep soul-searching if she didn't know that meaning of the word, which really isn't an unlikely scenario considering the culture of Downunder. You seem to be assuming that she did.
If she didn't then soul-searching about her opinion of homosexuality is not necessary. She knows what she thinks about that.