“Almost all of LGBTQ students (98.1%)
heard “gay” used in a negative way
(e.g., “that’s so gay”) at school; 67.4%
heard these remarks frequently or
often, and 93.4% reported that they felt
distressed because of this language.
• 95.8% of LGBTQ students heard other
types of homophobic remarks (e.g.,
“dyke” or “faggot”); 58.8% heard this
type of language frequently or often.” (GLSEN, 2015 page 5)

In an atmosphere of questioning it all, from guilt to shoe taste, from desire to excess, it is only fair to question language as well. Colombians use the word “marica” as a conversation filler, almost in the same frequency as Americans use “like”. The difference is the literal meaning of the word. It can be translated as an adjective used negatively, into the words “gay” or “fag”, and it can also be used with this intention. It can be the replacement of “dude” to refer to anyone (someone you know, someone you barely know, someone you don’t know, someone you like, someone you do not like) or it can be used as “fool” or “gullible”. There are rules to use it pragmatically so that they can fit a particular register or situation. A native Colombian would know perfectly when, how, where and who to use it with. It is such part of the “evolution” or “involution” of language, such a result of the innovation of words, that even if it bothers some older generations, most of us are used to it. We’ve normalized it.
Shouldn’t we question this too? The normalization of a word that refers to men that perform in feminine manners, says something deeper about our language. Language is a changing entity, a live creature that collides, merges, pullulates. The structure of language is an opportunity to reflect upon our reality. We cannot speak without thinking because we may reject those questions and reflections we have asked ourselves through out existence. When we use the word “marica” in a particular context, it is not just a normalized use of a former unpleasant word, but it is rather informing me of something that has happened to my language. Carolina Sanín, a brilliant Colombian writer, described it as a “problem that she has posed (SHE refers to the tongue which is feminine in Spanish). She is informing of an idea about the being in my language who has become sayable, audible and ordinary”. Sanín continues: “Grammatical warning does not limit me, it reminds me that I am within language and it gives me mobility inside it… it is mine but not only mine… it is the bond between speakers… in a shared vehicle.” So what’s the reason behind the use of this word? Is it offensive to the LGBTQ community back home as in the survey? What is it telling about Colombian social structures? How did it permeate so many conversations without people noticing? Do we notice?