Apple dictionary definition of 'gay' includes 'stupid'

[snowComet]

A high school student, Becca Gorman, found insulting words in the definition of gay in Apple's dictionary. She found, that in Apple's dictionary, gay has an informal defintion of "foolish"and "stupid". She wrote an email to Apple CEO, Tim Cook about this, and hours late she received a phone call from Apple, saylng ".... it is so hard to track the dictionaries they're getting source from,"

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=20864595

*update: On New York Daily News' article about this story, ,they said this definition can be found in IOS 7's built in dictionary....

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/apple-macbook-pro-dictionary-defines-gay-foolish-stupid-article-1.1519204

[Bluejay0]

Really Apple? Can you stop pissing people off already?

 

It should be smart to get the sources from one place. Merriam, anyone?

[Matsy]

Probably come from stuff like "this is gay" which people interpret as this is stupid.

But yeh. lol at apple.

[CwGoh]

Bad and ironic move Apple. Considering the gay people I know are Apple fanboys lol.

[R4STABAN]

Hi, I'm the LinusTechTips community and when I include dictionaries in the software I write I examine the definition of every single word in each of them

[Hans Christian | Teri]

I don't see this in my Macs dictionary. On the other hand this is nothing to be mad about. Gay is in fact often used as an informal synonym for foolish or stupid. Anyone who's offended by that should loosen up a bit, and realise they don't mean that gays are stupid.

[YeroJero]

[Vindola]

I see nothing wrong here.

 

Let's face the facts, a dictionary's purpose is to define a word in accordance to the ways that people use it in real life.

 

The truth is, a lot of people use the word "gay" as a derogatory term and a synonym to "stupid" This is the reality of it whether you and I like it or not.

 

And so when a dictionary defines a word, it is quite reasonable to include it's derogatory definitions.

 

The dictionary does not condone the usage of a word in a specific way, just because it shows this definition or that. It simply states the ways that humans use the word.

 

So for crying out loud, if someone makes a dictionary, and says "gay" has an informal definition of "foolish"and "stupid" that does not mean the maker of the dictionary approves this usage of the word, he just shows that there is a reasonable number of people out there who use it in that way.

 

[Derangel]

That is a pretty shit article. Read about this on the Consumerist on Friday and they had a much more detailed article with more information and the real end to it. Apple quickly had the heading changed to "informal, often offensive". It is impossible for Apple or any company to read through every single definition of every word for the Dictionaries they use. With the way the definition is changed now I see no reason to remove it. Offensive or not it is a way the term is used in modern society and that makes it a valid definition.

[snowComet]

That is a pretty shit article. Read about this on the Consumerist on Friday and they had a much more detailed article with more information and the real end to it. Apple quickly had the heading changed to "informal, often offensive". It is impossible for Apple or any company to read through every single definition of every word for the Dictionaries they use. With the way the definition is changed now I see no reason to remove it. Offensive or not it is a way the term is used in modern society and that makes it a valid definition.

Can u post the link here?? thx vey much~~

[Derangel]

Can u post the link here?? thx vey much~~

 

Here you go http://consumerist.com/2013/11/14/apple-calls-teen-an-hour-after-she-wrote-ceo-tim-cook-about-dictionarys-gay-entry/

[Snickerzz]

Bad and ironic move Apple. Considering the gay people I know are Apple fanboys lol.

mean but almost true 

[SethAFitzgerald]

I get what Apple is saying though about sourcing the information. They would have to police the dictionary more to prevent things like this from happening. 

 

Thing is, that definition is in there to reflect the way that people talk. Same reason why words like "lol" are in some dictionaries. They are simply showing the way that people actually talk in modern day life. 

 

If you wanted to get really technical it would not make sense for "gay" to mean "homosexual" either, since it originally meant "joy" or "happy" and later represented a bad, carefree life.

 

So, words change as time goes on and now in 2013, gay has once again taken on a new meaning. I do not see anything wrong with that. If the word "homosexual" had another definition meaning "stupid" then that would be wrong.

[Tigerbomb8]

Grow the fuck up.. If you notice in the definition they were not saying gay people are stupid.. You guys have taken it completely out of context..

Also it is in the English Oxford Dicianary.. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/gay

[Hunter259]

People are being way too sensitive about this. THE DICTIONARY SAYS ITS OFTEN OFFENSIVE AND INFORMAL. People love to whine about things that have no problem...

[Maskot]

Verification.

[EChondo]

"Gay" has and is being used as a term for "stupid". "This is gay", "you're gay". It's not a literal meaning anymore.

 

I don't see anything wrong, most of the homosexuals I know refer to themselves as homosexuals or queers anyway. 

[alicskysareblue]

ugh I really hate these kinds of articles

 

People are quick to draw the conclusion that apple was saying " gay people are stupid", when thats not the case at all remember kids "gay" at one point meant joyful and happy just like "queer" meant odd.

 

Oh and the dictionary is pretty accurate how many times haveyou heard people say "thats gay" to something that they think  is really dumb or lame ? 

 

[sof006]

People are far too sensitive. 

[JohnnyGrey]

Agreed

People are far too sensitive.

Agreed. Society always gets their panties in a bunch over nonsense. While that happens, I'm in the back throwing out a maniacal laugh.

[beebskadoo]

"Gay" has and is being used as a term for "stupid". "This is gay", "you're gay". It's not a literal meaning anymore.

 

I don't see anything wrong, most of the homosexuals I know refer to themselves as homosexuals or queers anyway. 

Queer is a term meaning odd or not the norm.

The gay community has used the term queer as a positive term since the late 80's

It was used as a derogatory term for most of the 20th century to describe LGBT relationships.

The adoption of the word was to defeat the negative context of the word and make it positive. We (not all  LGBT people though) call ourselves queer in the positive since of the word, not the negative.

hope this makes sense.

[beebskadoo]

By the way, this story is made even more interesting due to the fact that Apple CEO Tim cook is Gay.

What a twist!

[Vindola]

Queer is a term meaning odd or not the norm.

The gay community has used the term queer as a positive term since the late 80's

It was used as a derogatory term for most of the 20th century to describe LGBT relationships.

The adoption of the word was to defeat the negative context of the word and make it positive. We (not all  LGBT people though) call ourselves queer in the positive since of the word, not the negative.

hope this makes sense.

 

So is it like the word "nigger" where people of African descent use it among themselves, but object to others using it with them? Or do you find it alright if someone, hetro, described you as such? (Provided that they don't mean it in a hateful manner)

[beebskadoo]

So is it like the word "nigger" where people of African descent use it among themselves, but object to others using it with them? Or do you find it alright if someone, hetro, described you as such? (Provided that they don't mean it in a hateful manner)

I guess you can make that comparison.

But look at it this way, there are a lot more derogatory words that are used to describe LGBT people.

'fag, faggot, homo, Queer, Gay' are all used today as negative names, also as casual words. the word 'nigger' isn't like that. People understand the context and the negativity associated with it, that's why most people don't use it. 

See what I'm saying?

[Stonep11]

It's noted "formal", so why do people care? It's a part of "modern" talk. Don't tell me any of you have called something gay for not working. "This game isn't working. Stop being so gay, stupid game!"

As for people whining about it, just let it go. I'm bisexual and I couldn't care less. I'm more upset about people pointing it out and making a massive deal out of it than it ever making its way into the dictionary, to be honest.

I wonder how many actual gay people even care. The world is full of people so worried about upseting any minority the forget that people are just people and ignore what they think and just assume they follow their specific stereotype.