Happy Mother's Day to me. Yes, yes, I know I haven't any children, at least not of the usual variety, and that I'm only being treated to a lovely Mother's Day bc Kevin uses the cats as an excuse to treat me nicely. Thank goodness for the cats bc otherwise I'd be getting HMD cards from the plants...at least the ones I haven't let die from neglect. HMD wishes from thriving, happy, content cats is a much better situation.
When he told his sailor stories
She could feel the ocean foam rise
She saw its raging glory
But he had always told the truth, Lord, he was an honest man
And Brandy does her best to understand
So, yes, having a lovely day. It's beautiful outside, if a bit cold. Typing here while I listen to what I call my 'gay songs' on iTunes, e.g., Brewer & Shipley's "One Toke Over the Line", The Foundations' "Build Me Up Buttercup", and "Don't Pull Your Love" from Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds. OMG, while I was at the link for "Don't Pull Your Love" it started playing the song while I'm already listening to my gay songs -- at top volume! Double gayness! All at top volume! Anyway, this is a bunch of lame yet fun songs that Kevin downloaded from iTunes and that I unabashedly enjoy so much that he made me a gay songs folder. Any day now, I expect Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me with Science" to show up in the folder.
If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe
It's actually since morphed into simply miscellaneous songs I like that Kevin downloads on a one-off kind of basis when he just likes the one song (bc for some reason I don't do downloads, I just take what I like of what he downloads). E.g., I wouldn't say "Hurricane" or "Cold Hard Bitch" are gay songs, so it isn't really a folder of exclusively gay songs.
he said he could i
dentify
the guilty
maaaaaaaaan
And right now, one of my favorite songs is playing, Ben E. King's "Stand By Me". It's a sweet love song with a bit of sugar in it, what with all those strings, although I wouldn't say it's gay.
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me.
Now, when I say these are 'gay' songs, I mean 'gay' as in gay, not gay gay, that is, not really gay. I tend to avoid using 'gay' in this way bc I think others might be offended, and justifiably so, by the usage. Sometimes I think it's similar to how people generally say 'mentally challened' or the like instead of saying 'retarded', like we used to say when I was younger. Or maybe it's like even further back in the day when people said 'colored' instead of 'black' or 'African American'. It's kind of like an uncouth guilty semantic pleasure.
I said to the
undertaker
I said, 'Undertaker
please drive slow"
Anyway, the other day at work, I was chatting with a co-worker (CW) and a friend/patron (C) about something or other and I said that something or someone was 'so gay'. I forgot about what or whom I was speaking. So C jokingly said she was offended, but that really, she agreed; and CW said she knew exactly what I meant. I said pretty much what I said just above, i.e., how I don't use certain terms in polite company (sorry, CW and C) and CW said, 'Yes, it's kind of like "retard", but you would never really call a mentally challenged person "retard".' Which is true. And I would never walk up to a gay person and say, 'You're so gay' (unless we were really close and it was a running joke or something like that).
I search myself
I want you to find me
I forget myself
I want you to remind me
You can probably tell that I have reservations -- even within accepting company -- about using 'gay' this way. Thing is, it so perfectly expresses what I mean! When I say that I think 'Muskrat Love' is so gay (so very gay, in fact, that it didn't make it into my merely gay iTunes folder), I think many, if not most, people understand me to mean that I think the song is lame and cheesy, but that I don't think the song has anything to do with anyone's sexuality.
And now he's tickling her fancy
Rubbing her toes
Muzzle to muzzle, now anything goes
As they wriggle, and Sue starts to giggle.
I imagine using 'gay' this way has its origins in stereotypical conceptions of homosexuality. So, the question is, should I stop using this term bc it might be offensive to some? What if gay people use the very same term to mean the very same thing as I do? Is it okay for them to use it that way, but not me bc I'm not gay? Is it okay to use it this way with others who also use it, wort anyone's -- i.e., speakers' or listeners' -- sexuality? I have a feeling that the answer will be that things like context, the speaker, etc. matter and that I shouldn't use 'gay' in this way.
All this being said, the song currently playing -- "It's Raining Men" -- is totally gay.
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