language is a bitch

cra·zy

   [krey-zee] Show IPAadjective, -zi·er, -zi·est, noun, plural -zies.

–adjective

1.

mentally deranged; demented; insane.

2.

senseless; impractical; totally unsound: a crazy scheme.

3.

Informal . intensely enthusiastic; passionately excited: crazyabout baseball.

4.

Informal . very enamored or infatuated (usually followed byabout ): He was crazy about her.

5.

Informal . intensely anxious or eager; impatient: I'm crazy totry those new skis.

6.

Informal . unusual; bizarre; singular: She always wears acrazy hat.

7.

Slang . wonderful; excellent; perfect: That's crazy, man,crazy.

8.

likely to break or fall to pieces.

9.

weak, infirm, or sickly.

10.

having an unusual, unexpected, or random quality, behavior,result, pattern, etc.: a crazy reel that spins in eitherdirection.

–noun

11.

Slang . an unpredictable, nonconforming person; oddball: ahouse full of crazies who wear weird clothes and come in atall hours.

12.

the crazies, Slang . a sense of extreme unease, nervousness,or panic; extreme jitters: The crew was starting to getthe crazies from being cooped up belowdecks for so long.

—Idiom

13.

like crazy,

a.

Slang . with great enthusiasm or energy; to an extreme:We shopped like crazy and bought all our Christmas giftsin one afternoon.

b.

with great speed or recklessness: He drives like crazyonce he's out on the highway.

IF THE DICTIONARY SAYS THAT THE WORD CRAZY HAS DIFFERENT TECHNICAL DEFINITIONS, THEN WHY CAN'T WE PRACTICE THOSE OTHER DEFINITIONS IN OUR LANGUAGE IF THOSE OTHER DEFINITIONS aren't OFFENSIVE?

Alright. So, I've been sitting back listening to everyone argue with each other about this whole blightfest thing, and about people in general not fitting up to PC standards. It something that I feel like I've been listening to for years.

When i was in my early twenties I was a huge activist. Always fighting for a cause, member of the ARA, MOBGLOB, etc. But even back then I could say the word crazy, or bitch, and other words whose definitions have changed over the course of time.

I have two strong opinions towards this topic. First of all, i think that language is far less important than intent. I also feel like its far less important than being kind to others.

Since moving back to PEI, there are a lot of realizations I've come to in regards to the most important aspects of friendship...

When my brother died in November, it was a really hard time for me. One thing I noticed was who was really there for me. Many of the people that i thought of as my closest friends in Halifax were nowhere to be found. Although many of these folks are great at being politically correct, a lot of them fall short at being sincerely supportive to their friends. Where they may have no trouble prioritizing time and effort to call people out on words, and actions, that they don't deem "PC"... selflessly spending much of their spare time spreading the word on such issues with other people in the community, often the simplicity of selflessly spending time and effort just being "there" for someone who may be going through something rough often gets forgotten, or deemed "not as important".

It is very interesting having a completely different type of group of friends here in PEI. Though a few of them may be offensive at times, some of them may even use the word "fag" every once in a while, they are amazing people. The kind of friends that accept each other for who they are, for all of their faults, and don't hold anything against them. The kind of people who are there for each other ALWAYS in the end. People who might not be amazing at the etiquette of language, but have the etiquette of friendship down perfectly. It's nice to have friends I can feel relaxed around. How I can get too drunk and put my foot in my mouth and they'll still be there for me in the morning say "it's cool, we all get drunk and do stupid shit sometimes". How my friends can get drunk and do stupid shit, and i can wake up in the morning and say "man, you did some stupid shit last night. hey, you want some coffee?" and it's all forgotten about. No gossip. No intervention. No drama. Just movin on.

And that's not to say I don't say something to people when they are being offensive. Because I do. And they take my opinion into consideration. And they respect that. And I respect them for that.

If language is enough to tear apart a friendship, then what was that friendship in the first place?

I do think being politically correct is important. But, unfortunately, we all don't get to live in a bubble.

This is not an attack on the kids in halifax, there are many people there who i love dearly and still consider good friends of mine.

Im just tired of seeing people attack their friends over semantics.