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OK to use? 18-Jan-2011 At 6:22:08 PM voodoo

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On 17/01/2011 nmonteith wrote:
>Im intrigued to know from people who voted 'yes' on this poll if they would
>use these words in conversation with a gay person?

I voted no - yet I have gay friends/colleagues that I happily use colourful terms like fag, bummers, brown-hatting etc in conversation with them. Is this an inconsistency? Not at all...

It's all about context. I know them, and they're good friends, and I know what offends them and what doesn't. And, in return, they know whether I'm trying to cause genuine offense or am simply being lighthearted/colourful/gratuitous (or whatever else you want to call it).

The difference on Chocky (and this was what the poll referred to) is that we aren't all best buddies and we don't necessarily know each other particularly well. And conversations here aren't private - there's an audience - and others reading can easily take offense to what has been said or misinterpret something that was originally intended in jest.

And I think that is an important distinction to recognise.