"To call someone a fag is like the lowest thing you can call someone. Because that's like saying that you're nothing" (Pascoe, 2005, pp. 335). In another sociology course I am taking, Men and Masculinities, we recently studied the intersections of masculinities and sexuality. This involved the study of the slang word 'fag' and it's pragmatics and sociolinguistics. To call someone a fag is defined as an offensive way of calling someone a male homosexual. Although, in a study done by Pascoe among high school students, this was not the typical meaning that they associated with the term 'fag'. As noted by Pascoe, "'fag' is not necessarily a static identity attached to a particular (homosexual) boy. Any boy can temporarily become a fag in a given social space or interation" (pp. 330). In the study, both heterosexual and homosexual boys were called 'fags' based on their failure of competence and masculinity, not because of their sexual preferences. The literal meaning of the term 'fag' was not used between schoolmates but instead there was social understanding of what the words unwritten meaning was.
Pascoe's study of high school students relates to the topics of SOC250 in that we study forms of communication and conversational structure. The discourse of many words, including 'fag', are capable of having many meanings in different social contexts. For example, many people may call their heterosexual friends 'fags' when they do something embarrassing and in this context the term is taken much more lightheartedly than if a homosexual was called a 'fag'. The genre of one's speech, or hedging, may also influence the way these words are interpreted and how offensive they are meant to be.
References
Pascoe, C. J. (2005). 'Dude, you're a fag': Adolescent Masculinity and the Fag Discourse. Sexualities, 8(3): 329-346.
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