• Drusas@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    “Gay” as an insult was already falling out of favor around 1998. Source: I was there.

    • BluesF@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      Well it was very much alive by 2008. Source: was a not straight teen in 2008.

      • Microw@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, it was used inflationary around that time. I remember the parents of our friend group asking us to please not use the word in that way because it was so excessive.

        • Steeve@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Guess your friend group lived under a rock lol

          Or just location differences, but was absolutely a normalized thing to say when I grew up. Didn’t mean homosexual or anything, just anything that sucked was “gay”

          • PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            “The 40 Year Old Virgin” came out in 2005 and one of the most memorable scenes in my opinion is two guys (Paul Rudd and somebody else) playing video games making gay jokes. “Do you know how I know you’re gay? You like Coldplay.”

            If Hollywood was still doing it in the mid-00’s then you can bet it was still popular in highschools across the USA.

    • Bolt@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Sadly it’s still very much used as an insult in some contexts. Source: I am here.

    • Sundray@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      For real. I hear younger folks say “people didn’t know it wasn’t cool back then” – no, lots of people knew.