Words, homophobic and otherwise

Graham asked:

"Is 'ass-kisser' homophobic?"

And Greg said:

"Brown-noser and ass-kisser strike me as strongly homophobic."

Wow, that's a reaction I never anticipated. I was thinking of someone making obeisance, instead of kissing the ground kissing the foulest part of someone's body, which in our culture would be the anus. Think "put it where the sun don't shine," "eat shit," "asshole," "got their heads up their asses," and so on.

Maybe I'm just out of touch--how do others feel? Is ass-kisser homophobic?

Graham continued:

"I would actually find 'spunkless' incredibly insulting. It suggets that I cannot impregnant a woman and am therefore less than a man."

It sounds like we're looking at different meanings for "spunk." My dictionaries say spirit, pluck, mettle. Spunk is also slang for semen?

In any case, your being insulted by the word "spunkless" is amazing. Can any man seriously consider that his worth as a human being depends on what squirts out of his penis? To judge a man by his ability to impregnate a woman implies that men are nothing more than baby-makers, worthless for anything else. That standard demeans all men, and specifically insults those who are physically unable to or who for any reason choose not to procreate.

James D said:

"I'm curious about how you feel about 'suck' -- i.e.; he/she/that 'sucks.' Obviously referencing oral sex with the implication that it's a bad thing (to be giving, of course, not receiving), which leads back to being a whore..."

I didn't comprehend how insulting "suck" could be, not just to gay men but also to nursing mothers. I'm trying to weed "suck" out of my vocabulary, and alsis38's suggested substitutions--reeks, stinks, rots--are a big help; these words have the same strong emphatic sound. Alsis38 also said, "Good suffixes to add empahsis are things like '...on ice,' 'on toast,' 'on stilts,' etc."

RepubAnon proposed these terms:

"ashcroft (v) wanton destruction - as in 'They've done a real ashcroft on the Bill of Rights.'

cheney (v) as in 'go cheney yourself'

Powell (n) powerless toady, as in my manager sure is being a powell after the CEO called.

Rumsfeld (n) insane, as in 'crazy as a rumsfeld'"