"That's so gay."

Thursday night Peanut and I were sitting on the couch watching Smallville. During a commercial, he asked me what the word "gay" meant.

I looked over at him and said, "Well, it actually means 'happy, joyful, full of energy'...."

"Really?"

"Yep, but a bunch of years ago someone decided to coopt it, making it into a word that describes men who love other men and women who love other women. Why are you asking?"

Rather laid back, "Ah, just because someone used it at school."

"That's what I thought. They use it to say something someone is wearing 'is gay' or when someone does something odd, 'they're gay,' right?"

"Yeah."

A change of tone sets in on my part, "If I ever hear you say anything like that, you will be punished, do you understand? What your friends are in fact articulating is that doing, saying or wearing anything they don't like or find odd is the same as being gay, which is an insult. But really, that's not true and it's hurtful to those who really are gay. You saying it would be agreeing that you don't like gay people and I won't allow that."

"Okay."

End of discussion. I set the boundaries and hopefully he'll respect them, even when I'm not around.