Posting by c_mewes

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/podcasts/grammar_grater/archive/2007/10/18/

Taylor, L. "Episode 16: One thing leads to another." The Grammar Grater

Although I've never heard the word "penultimate" used as slang or properly, I thought the article was really interesting. It shows how the meaning of a word doesn't necessarily have to have anything to do with how people use it. This really reminded me of how people use the word "gay." It's becoming really popular to use the word gay as a way to put something down, or to say that it's dumb. If you confront someone who uses the word gay as an insult, they defend the usage by saying that they don't mean it in a bad way. Although in all reality they are taking a whole group of people and constantly associating those people with a negative connotation. It's perpetuating the stigma that being gay is a negative thing. I'm willing to bet there is not a single person that uses the word gay as an insult has ever thought about what they're really saying when the use the word, but to them it doesn't matter what the word means.

--c_mewes