[quote=@Hjalti] [@MoiraEl] Wait... So what words would you use to describe bisexual, asexual, heterosexual and pansexual? Homosexual is just a blanket term for gay or lesbian, since both are (for the most part) separated by gender. i.e. You're likely to meet a lesbian woman, but not a lesbian man. So instead of referring to two friends as "the gay guy and the lesbian chick" you could just say "The homosexual ones" or shorten it to homo, just like with hetero, bi or pan. Words can take on whole new meanings after periods of time. The simplest example is how "fag" was the term used to refer to a bundle of sticks typically used to burn homosexuals at the stake. But now a word that was literally used to describe sticks is seen as offensive (much the same as the Italian word for "black"), while others like "buff" (which originally meant nude) or referring to someone as "black" are not. Hell, "dick" used to just be a shortened form of Richard and "African-American" is now being considered offensive! The only way words become or indeed [i]remain[/i] offensive is if you keep considering them as such or using them in an offensive manner. [/quote] It won't change just because you feel like it should. Language is a living moving thing, and it's not under the control of any manageable intellectual progress. I suspect "homosexual" has become ugly to people is because it's become the term most used by people opposed to gay rights, so that you see evangelicals and politicians spitting the word like it is a bad thing. That's how slurs are born, and it's not something you can easily harness. Compare the life of fuck; you start with a medieval word meaning "To stab", then becomes slang for sex, then becomes seen as the most vulgar of words, and then becomes a go-to word if you want something strongly vulgar. Nobody decided that, it was just one application leading to another. So you have the word "Homosexual" then. Simple clinical word becomes the go-to legal term (that and sodomy), faggot becomes an unacceptably vulgar slur so that all those preachers and politicians run the risk of being seen as trash if they use it, so they turn to the clinical word because it sounds detached enough for their rhetoric. Then it becomes an uglier sounding word and gay becomes the go-to generic. [quote=@Dynamo Frokane] Bioshock gave birth to too many libertarians, so for that reason I cant forgive it. [/quote] Wait, did it? I've never ran across those type. [quote=@Weird Tales] I don't call myself black or African American. I am a Louisiana creole of French heritage. That's how i identify myself. Its all a matter of preference. So I call myself creole and not black [/quote] That's pretty cool. Though that's more a local thing, so most black people in the US can't really use that term.