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Meh. Using "gay" to describe things as crap is well established now as not referring to actual homosexuality. I know gay people who say "That's just fucking gay" without really noticing. I know some people would get offended, but such people aren't the type I particularly care about. I _like_ people whom I can insult because of their race/sexuality/whatever without having them jump down my throat. I call my Japanese friends "Japs" and they don't bat an eyelid. My Chinese housemate has 'Ching Within' on his door. I call another friend 'Jew-boy' because he's both Jewish and he's a stingy bugger, and he isn't offended in the slightest.
The world would be a lot better if everyone would just calm down and quit obsessing over semantics. I have a dream that a white man will call a black man "Nigger", a black man will call a white man "Honky", and then both will laugh and have a drink.
By refusing to use certain words for fear of causing, we give them power and actually reinforce assumptions of difference, however inadvertantly.
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"Look, I'm pretty relaxed for a guy who just lost money on a rave. And who's currently speeding down the highway drunk off my tits. And I'm being chased by someone in a blue Corolla. Woohoo! I just ran a red light!"
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