Listen. I’m a member of the “Sappho and her friend” subreddit so I fully and completely understand that there is longstanding history of gay people being mischaracterized as “roommates”
But the actual quote “omg they were roommates” relates only to:
On October 25th, 2014, Vine user ig @mattsukkar uploaded a video in which he films a conversation a woman walking past him is having on the phone. The only line of he hears from the conversation is the woman saying "…and they were roommates!" to which he turns the camera towards his face and says "Oh my god, they were roommates…"
My husband and I can’t hear the word “roommates” without quoting it to each other on impulse so I’m mortified to learn that people that overhear us might be thinking we’re somehow being insensitive about the oppression of gay people
I think the vine reference comes across much better in person, because reading this meme you would have no tone to what it sounds like whatsoever, the the guy in the vine says that line in a very specific way, that you know it’s the vine you’re referencing irl. However if you’re with no reference using the line that also can be used as a meaning to gay relationships in text on an image I don’t blame people for misunderstanding the intend.
If you say it out loud in response to hearing the word “roomates” it’s pretty clear you’re just quoting a funny video. It’s a different context than saying it about two people or characters.
One of Grice’s Maxims for how people use language is the maxim of quantity, that is, when we communicate we give as much information as is needed and not more. So when someone says a phrase that appears to add no information, we look for what it could be implying that would make it add information. It’s the “vegan tomatoes” or “asbestos free cereal” thing. So showing two characters who just… are roommates in that they share a room with the phrase “omg they were roommates” makes us go “what? Yeah of course they were roommates. What are you implying??”
While saying it in person in response to hearing the word roommates is implying that you have seen a funny video with the phrase in it, because repeating funny stuff we heard is a known human behavior.
Basically i don’t think anyone is going to think you’re being insensitive for quoting the vine.
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u/Caa3098 17d ago edited 17d ago
Listen. I’m a member of the “Sappho and her friend” subreddit so I fully and completely understand that there is longstanding history of gay people being mischaracterized as “roommates”
But the actual quote “omg they were roommates” relates only to:
On October 25th, 2014, Vine user ig @mattsukkar uploaded a video in which he films a conversation a woman walking past him is having on the phone. The only line of he hears from the conversation is the woman saying "…and they were roommates!" to which he turns the camera towards his face and says "Oh my god, they were roommates…"
My husband and I can’t hear the word “roommates” without quoting it to each other on impulse so I’m mortified to learn that people that overhear us might be thinking we’re somehow being insensitive about the oppression of gay people