The Phobia suffix!!!

I don't like the gay sexual lifestyle. Gay people don't like my sexual lifestyle. I as a person and they as a person can like eachother as individuals though.

Am I a homophobe for saying I don't like the gay lifestyle?

originally posted by: In4ormant
I don't like the gay sexual lifestyle. Gay people don't like my sexual lifestyle. I as a person and they as a person can like eachother as individuals though.

Am I a homophobe for saying I don't like the gay lifestyle?

Yes, at least one of the posters on this thread helpfully posted dictionary definitions to suggest as much.

Of course, I don't think you are, but if you are and I am because we happen to have an aversion to homosexual sex, then wouldn't gays likewise be heterophobes?

originally posted by: ketsuko
Yes, at least one of the posters on this thread helpfully posted dictionary definitions to suggest as much.

The problem is that modern dictionaries are aiming to record the way that words are used in practice. So if somebody uses a dictionary definition to support the way a word gets used in practice, that's really a circular argument.

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: In4ormant
I don't like the gay sexual lifestyle. Gay people don't like my sexual lifestyle. I as a person and they as a person can like eachother as individuals though.

Am I a homophobe for saying I don't like the gay lifestyle?

Yes, at least one of the posters on this thread helpfully posted dictionary definitions to suggest as much.

Of course, I don't think you are, but if you are and I am because we happen to have an aversion to homosexual sex, then wouldn't gays likewise be heterophobes?

Technically speaking I would say yes. If one is true then the other would be.

a reply to: Hazardous1408

You can irrationally fear something, but you cannot be irrationally averse to anything. Fondness, or lack thereof, is entirely governed by an individual's personal thoughts. I can irrationally fear hot days, working myself into a panic over the expectations that I'll die of heat stroke... conversely, if I make the statement "I really HATE hot days because I prefer to be cool," you cannot say that I'm being irrational, because I am merely stating a personal preference.

I tend to agree with the OP here. Phobia has a duplicitous meaning and has been latched onto more as a (failed) attempt to insult those who retain any traditional belief which is presently in the process of forced changed than anything else.

Bottom line, the proper response when someone accuses you of being XYZphobic is pretty much the same response people should provide if they're falsely accused of being racists, sexists, or any other 'ists': You think I am? Meh. A reaction of pure apathy, not back scrambling, not supplication, not anger, just a pure and pristine "do I look like I care?" is a reaction which they have yet to invent a strategy against.

a reply to: ketsuko

Hmmm. Another question.

If I dislike gay people as a whole for whatever reason I'm a homophobe.

What if I dislike 1 gay person because, well, they are just annoying?? Am I one then?

a reply to: In4ormant

No, then you're a perturbaphobe.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

Stars for you, sadly I can only give the one.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

You just made that up didn't you? "perturbaphobe" LOL Love it!

a reply to: Joecanada11 explain the gay gang rapes in prison if its not a "choice"

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
a reply to: In4ormant

No, then you're a perturbaphobe.

I'm afraid of labels though, that's not gonna work for me.

a reply to: In4ormant

If God is all powerful and unwavering, can He create a creature so horrifying that it makes even Him hide under his bed in fear?

.

originally posted by: Joecanada11
a reply to: xuenchen

This post just gave Hillary 50,000 more votes.

Actually it only rates to -2500 for Hillary.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
a reply to: In4ormant

If God is all powerful and unwavering, can He create a creature so horrifying that it makes even Him hide under his bed in fear?

He said yes, but just to make the thing feel good about itself for a day.

a reply to: AVtech34

Seriously. That's absurd. Do you think there's a bunch of women that the prisoners can choose from?

a reply to: xuenchen

Your math skills suck.

originally posted by: Hazardous1408

An extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something:

www.oxforddictionaries.com...


Wrong.

Yep, I'm brusselsprout phobic. and artichoke phobic.

I might even be reality-tv phobic.

Because it's an irrational and extreme FEAR....

read the op.

Actually, I'm tired of it too. MAKE IT STOP.

The only phobia I have is fear of heights. It's a true phobia, I suffered the terror that caused it, and I'm entitled to it.

a reply to: DISRAELI

That I would also agree with. I am very happy with my old American Heritage. The Websters I have at work gives me the willies.

Wait! Does that make me a Webster-phobe?