I've met a fair number of people who consider the term "tranny" to be highly offensive in any context. I understand it, like many words, CAN be used in a pejorative fashion, but always? I use it to describe myself and my girlfriends quite often and I think it is a very pretty word myself, both in how it looks and in how it sounds. And it's clearly just a truncation of a Latin word of accurate description. So what's the big deal? Why do some people get so up in arms over it?
To be honest, I find it offensive and I am not trans.. I can't explain what it is, I just cringe when I hear it and feel really small and embarrassed if it's a friend of mine saying it.
Usually, those who say "tranny", are being anything but cute or joking. They use it, to express their genuine dislike, or reveal their crippling ignorance. But most significant is, usually, when "tranny" is used on/against somebody, they are invalidating that individual's identified-as gender. That is what the problem is, with using the word.
I am curious, since I have been reading quite a bit on this debate and while I have actually never used the word nor, before coming out, understood its meaning, did the word always have a derogatory connotation?
Thanks for the input everyone! As far as I am aware, the origin is from transvestite (which is oddly considered offensive by some as well), with the trans part roughly meaning "change" or "across" and the vestitite (from vestitus) part meaning "to clothe". And I realize that term alone does not truly encompass the entire trans umbrella, but all the other terms are bastardizations of Latin and other Anglo-Saxon languages as far as I'm aware. And, as is natural for modern-day English speakers, syllables got dropped and it morphed into something that rolls easier off the tongue. I wasn't around when the term was coined, so I really can't speak as to whether offense was meant in the beginning. Personally, I'm a strong believer in that there are no such things as offensive words, only offensive intentions.
