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Prejudice is known for having to do with racism but as the definition above shows that's not all it's means.

I said I was "Prejudice against Gateway computers" and my brother-in-law flipped out. He is black. Then it went into a whole debate as to why I should be able to use the word without him getting upset. The spanish word "negro" still has a negative affect, even though it's not as common of a racial slur but it's creation was to mean "black".

When a word is being used or created to cause pain, I can understand why someone would get upset. But some words have more than one meaning and yet it still upsets people.

Words evolve, and come to mean many different things in different societies. go to mexico, and you can see kids arguing over a "negro" crayon cause they want to color in the night sky on their picture.
go to new york, and you can see a guy get shot for calling another person the same word.

I've got some friends who are homosexual, and they are annoyed sometimes when I use the word gay to describe a person who is happy. that same person will look at something stupid i do and say "well that was gay..." and that very same person will run around town with me with a bright pink shirt that says "gay is good" on the front of it across his chest.


I think that people worry too much about trying not to hurt other peoples feelings. I proudly call myself a wierdo/freak, because I see it as a sign of uniqueness, and some of the bullies back in school used to call me the same exact thing, meaning it in a more negative way.

As long as someone isn't actually trying to hurt my feelings, or insult me, then I see no reason to take offense at anything that someone chooses to call/say to me. What would be the point? They weren't trying to be offensive, so why should I be upset?

I'm prejudice to people who don't like me talk2hand

I have never thought of the word prejudice to only have something to do with racism, in fact I use the word quite often but I've never used it in a racist way (unless it was in a joking way, but even then I don't think I have).

@Div: I think with how you like people to think of you as this quote would work better:
"I'm free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally."

Even though I don't think that's true of your character. I still like the quote.

Gay - Arrived into the English language during the 12th century, from the Old French word Gai. Originally used to describe somebody as joyful, carefree and/or bright and showy.
Have also been used in context of immortality, addiction to pleasure and prostitution.

Now commonly used to refer to homosexuals, while being accepted as a word to express insult.

That's not your fault. It's his fault for being overly-sensitive to racial issues and for not understanding the actual meaning of the word. It's not as if you said something really offensive, you merely used the word as it should have been used. It's not your fault that you didn't know how he'd react. He was wrong to overreact, especially since he's your brother-in-law.

Anyway, language is one of my favorite topics. It's always interested me how convoluted, crazy, and just plain stupid the English language is. There is no natural selection in language evolution, so that's why we get redundant and fairly stupid spellings, pronunciations, and even meanings.