Our blog friend, Frume Sarah, recently wrote an excellent piece on the meaning of words.

The article focused on the shift of meaning of the word gay from happy to homosexual and how referring to something (such as the way a shirt looks) as being gay is clearly an insult.  She also mentioned a few other terms that are stereotypical insults, such as Indian-giver, retard, gypped, Jewed, and Dutch uncle.

As Sarah so astutely put it, “If the expression you are using refers to a specific people, culture, religion, disability, etc, you can be certain that it is a put-down.”

–Paul