Reply #102: Because...

[gorfle]

You asked a question:

I gave my answer:

That is not what it is used for.

Why on earth would you reply as if the "it" in my answer referred to "the word 'homophobia'," when your QUESTION was about THE OTHER WORD, i.e. HOPLOPHOBIA???

I asked the question that if "homophobe" is an acceptable term to describe anti-homosexual people, then why would "hoplophobe" not be an acceptable term to describe anti-firearm people. Since you did not discuss this comparison naturally I assumed you thought the premise, that homophobe is an acceptable term to describe anti-homosexual people, was wrong.

Now I see that you were not disagreeing with my definition of homophobia. I assume you agree, then that the word homophobe is generally used to refer to anti-homosexual bigots.

So my question still stands:

If the word "homophobia" has been co-opted to generally mean an anti-homosexual person, why can't the word be co-opted to generally mean an anti-firearm person? It certainly seems appropriate for a person who's anti-firearm position is irrational, which describes most of them I have heard.

That is not the meaning ascribed to it when it was coined, that is not the meaning of the word as it is used, and the purpose for which is used is not to describe someone who is "anti-firearm", whatever the hell that is; it is used to ascribe IRRATIONALITY to someone whose position on public policy regarding firearms is opposed by whoever is using the word.

Well, you're just wrong. An "anti-firearm person" (and anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows what the hell that is) is precisely what the meaning ascribed to "hoplophobia" was when it was coined, and is a meaning of the word as it is currently used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplophobia

"Firearms instructor Colonel Jeff Cooper coined the word in 1962 to describe a "mental disturbance characterized by irrational aversion to weapons".<2> Cooper employed the clinical-sounding term as an alternative to slang terms, stating: "We read of 'gun grabbers' and 'anti-gun nuts' but these slang terms do not (explain this behavior)." Cooper attributed this behavior to the irrational fear of firearms and other forms of weaponry. He stated that "the most common manifestation of hoplophobia is the idea that instruments possess a will of their own, apart from that of their user."

Despite the clinical term, the word is generally used to describe gun control advocates. It is mildly derogatory, less so than similar slang terms such as those mentioned above. It is most commonly used as a pejorative by gun rights advocates."

It's even in the Urban Dictionary:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoplophobe



Like I said: feel free to write your own dictionary. You can use "red" to mean "the colour of the sky at high noon on a sunny cloudless day", and "tall" to mean "having below-average stature", if you like.

Well that is an interesting example. Like "hoplophobe" above, red can mean a color, but also has a political meaning: communist.