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Why is "Pause" being used?

captmcblack

captmcblack

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Oct 25, 2017
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I never get tired of people discovering hood/urban slang like its new, lol.

Yeah, it's been around for a long time, and it's not appropriate... but it belongs to a community/an environment that's not really going to police the appropriateness of the term, so I'll leave it to the streets.
 
entremet

entremet

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Oct 26, 2017
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You must not be from NY.

I would say Dame Dash popularized the term outside NYC. Dash is from NYC, but he's not shy to do interviews, especially in his prime.

It also get tricky when we're talking street terms like captmcblack just said. I personally do not use the term.
 
krazen

krazen

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Oct 27, 2017
13,426
Gentrified Brooklyn
BackwardCap said:
Its basically used in the same instances of "Thats what she said" whenever something that can be interpreted as an innuendo is stated.
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Yup. With the innuendo being vague and usually hinting at something homophobic but often a stretch.

"Yeah, so we were hungry and went to the spot and each brought like five different types of hotdogs. So we are in the car just downing each other's hotdogs *pause*."

It's near dad joke, but with a dash of homophobia.
 
BringBackSonics

BringBackSonics

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Oct 27, 2017
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BackwardCap said:
Its basically used in the same instances of "Thats what she said" whenever something that can be interpreted as an innuendo is stated.
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There is nuance right? Like if an old dude like me, used pause instead of wait (not in the context maybe younger people use) with another old person like me. That would be okay? Seems like that word has different meaning for different age groups / maybe regions (noticed a lot of New York)
 
Trey

Trey

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Oct 25, 2017
18,295
another thread where people discover terms are decades old, another day that ends in y

some of yall need to grow up. get some intuition, or at least the capability to inquire outside your own life experiences
 
WhateverItTakes

WhateverItTakes

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Oct 25, 2017
6,414
Viewt said:
"Pause" is extremely old. Like, people were saying "pause" when I was in high school, and I graduated in 2007.

EDIT: On topic, yeah, both are super homophobic - they're both rooted in the idea that it would be terrible for you to be temporarily mistaken to be gay, so you better pause the conversation and/or call out that you're not one-a-them.
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On a related point, I'm curious about what the thread thinks about a "no homo" without the "no homo". For example, I've seen GIFs like this get more popular:

tenor.com

Hop On Splitgate GIF - Hop On Splitgate - Discover & Share GIFs

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tenor.com

Hop On Splitgate GIF - Hop On Splitgate - Discover & Share GIFs

Click to view the GIF
tenor.com tenor.com

tenor.com

Hop On Siege Hop On R6 GIF - Hop On Siege Hop On R6 Siege - Discover & Share GIFs

Click to view the GIF
tenor.com tenor.com

So like, this is out and out gay content, being used primarily by straight people is my guess. probably some queer folk too but I'm guessing less many.

I guess the difference is the joke now not being mistaken for being gay, but a level of irony over that in terms of just fully committing to homoeroticism. Which still feels homophobic on some level to me in a way I can't quite articulate, even if it's less immediately offensive than "no homo".
 
entremet

entremet

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krazen said:
Yup. With the innuendo being vague and usually hinting at something homophobic but often a stretch.

"Yeah, so we were hungry and went to the spot and each brought like five different types of hotdogs. So we are in the car just downing each other's hotdogs *pause*."

It's near dad joke, but with a dash of homophobia.
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Not to get hyper academic here. I'm not one but have read that a lot young male bonding and speech has a lot of homoerotic undertones. This is cross cultural too. Not just with speech, but stuff like "sword fighting" lol.

So yeah, creating erotic suggestions when it's not there for the laughs. Joking about male body parts is old as time it seems too.
 
DrForester

DrForester

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Oct 25, 2017
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I've never heard the "no homo" line in a homophobic context. I've only ever heard it used in commentary mocking homophobia or just to dunk on media for going out of its way to make sure the audience knows that two male characters aren't gay.

Lindsay Ellis videos used it a few times (and was probably my first exposure to the term).
 
Sensei

Sensei

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Oct 25, 2017
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Jehovah God they are finding out old terms and calling them new again. Do something!
 
Tsumami

Tsumami

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Feb 3, 2022
5,274
WhateverItTakes said:
On a related point, I'm curious about what the thread thinks about a "no homo" without the "no homo". For example, I've seen GIFs like this get more popular:

tenor.com

Hop On Splitgate GIF - Hop On Splitgate - Discover & Share GIFs

Click to view the GIF
tenor.com tenor.com

tenor.com

Hop On Splitgate GIF - Hop On Splitgate - Discover & Share GIFs

Click to view the GIF
tenor.com tenor.com

tenor.com

Hop On Siege Hop On R6 GIF - Hop On Siege Hop On R6 Siege - Discover & Share GIFs

Click to view the GIF
tenor.com tenor.com

So like, this is out and out gay content, being used primarily by straight people is my guess. probably some queer folk too but I'm guessing less many.

I guess the difference is the joke now not being mistaken for being gay, but a level of irony over that in terms of just fully committing to homoeroticism. Which still feels homophobic on some level to me in a way I can't quite articulate, even if it's less immediately offensive than "no homo".
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I have noticed that there are lots of people lately that just post gay things as the joke and that's it, and I don't really know what to make of it. I guess to some people gay automatically = funny? idk
 
Kamek

Kamek

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Oct 27, 2017
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Cam/dame Dash really popularized "pause" back in like 2004 I wanna say. It's "no homo" adjacent to me. The "new" things I hear (~5 years) are people saying people/their actions actions are "zesty" or "sus"(in a non suspicious context).
 
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The Watcher

The Watcher

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Oct 29, 2017
1,364
People, I know I these terms are ancient by Internet standards. Hell, I think both are decades old, I know they were used when I was in highschool and I'm 30 something now, lol. Let's not derail the conversation by stating my mistake of posting "new" in the title. My question is: why is it still being used and why is it not being called out on? And it's being used by left- leaning progressives and homophobes alike.
 
Derbel McDillet

Derbel McDillet

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There's a notable overlap between no homo, phrasing, pause, that's what she said, ayo and so on.

Some veer more homophobic than others, it's usually in response to someone saying something incidentally sexual.

No one seems to have an issue with "phrasing", while the other 4 are more likely to get side eyed. No homo understandably of course.

Confused as to why people hate "dickriding", but are fine with "glazed" which has the exact same implication, just a different position.
 
entremet

entremet

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The Watcher said:
People, I know I these terms are ancient by Internet standards. Hell, I think both are decades old, I know they were used when I was in highschool and I'm 30 something now, lol. Let's not derail the conversation by stating my mistake of posting "new" in the title. My question is: why is it still being used and why is it not being called out on? And it's being used by left- leaning progressives and homophobes alike.
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I think you really overestimate how progressive our world really is.
 
MIMIC

MIMIC

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Dec 18, 2017
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Shemhazai said:
The pause thing doesn't sound anywhere near as egregious. It's just acknowledging the fact that you said something that unintentionally sounds erotic. Far better that than actually saying "I'm not gay" since it doesn't really make a value call on homosexuality.
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You don't say pause for anything erotic. You say it for anything that sounds homosexual.

Both are homophobic as fuck, with one being more egregious.
 

ParanormalFupa

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Oct 27, 2017
6,303
I've never seen it before. If I saw a bunch of people using that on the internet, I would stop going to those places.
 
Freedonia

Freedonia

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Oct 27, 2017
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Pause has been around for years, and has existed just as long as 'no homo'. 'No Diddy' is the new phrase
 
EN1GMA

EN1GMA

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Nov 7, 2017
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The Watcher said:
People, I know I these terms are ancient by Internet standards. Hell, I think both are decades old, I know they were used when I was in highschool and I'm 30 something now, lol. Let's not derail the conversation by stating my mistake of posting "new" in the title. My question is: why is it still being used and why is it not being called out on? And it's being used by left- leaning progressives and homophobes alike.
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Pause isn't as blatant as no homo and slides by because of it. That is pretty much it.
 
DanteSparda504

DanteSparda504

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Nov 2, 2017
4,502
Birmingham, AL
Just curious….what makes no homo homophobic? I've never felt it offensive nor have I ever felt bothered by people saying it. I'm just learning here that it's considered homophobic.

Edit: For context: I'm gay. I've just never heard anyone have an issue with this till this thread. So was super confused
 
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entremet

entremet

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DanteSparda504 said:
Just curious….what makes no homo homophobic? I've never felt it offensive nor have I ever felt bothered by people saying it. I'm just learning here that it's considered homophobic.
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It equates being gay to something bad basically. Like you caught disease and "no homo" is your vaccine, see I'm not gay.

Nothing wrong with being gay. But basically it puts being a sexual minority into the "bad" category, which is already historical, so it continues homophobia.

I don't use or defend these terms, but this is part of a bigger discussion of hypermasculinity and machismo in male spaces that is a bigger nut to crack.

A lot of masculinity is basically a negation of traditional feminine coded things. You can't like pink. You can't like playing with dolls. You can't like flowers, etc.
 
RoyalGoldenFES

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Jul 14, 2023
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Pause has been around since the 2000s; if you listen to any Dipset (Cam'ron, Juelz Santana, Jim Jones) album from that era you'll probably hear it
 
Royalan

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Oct 24, 2017
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The funny thing about shit like "pause" and "no homo" is that in order for that language to have any traction with you, you have to be thinking about homosexuality and your (perceived) proximity to its cultural markings to an absurd degree.

Straight people think about gay shit more than gay people do. Must be an exhausting way to live.
 
entremet

entremet

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Royalan said:
The funny thing about shit like "pause" and "no homo" is that in order for that language to have any traction with you, you have to be thinking about homosexuality and your (perceived) proximity to its cultural markings to an absurd degree.

Straight people think about gay shit more than gay people do. Must be an exhausting way to live.
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It's an issue with machismo and hypermasculinity, especially in black and brown spaces. I grew up in these spaces. Obviously white dudes have their own "games" and coded language as well to signal hypermasculinity, but I'm not white and didn't grow up in those spaces. You do see it in media, especially anything before the 2010s.

I do remember Matt Damon's daughters telling him to stop using the F-word--the gay slur. He was like it was nothing, but they had to educate the guy. This was recent too! He used it amongst his straight friends as a term of endearment and thus didn't get it.
 
plagiarize

plagiarize

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entremet said:
It's an issue with machismo and hypermasculinity, especially in black and brown spaces. I grew up in these spaces. Obviously white dudes have their own "games" as well to signal hypermasculinity, but I'm not white and didn't grow up in those spaces. You do see it in media, especially anything before the 2010s.
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I'm always looking for excuses to post this excellent example of spoofing / illustrating the issue


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI79h2FSnS4&pp=ygUUcG9wc3RhciBlcXVhbCByaWdodHM%3D
 
Auros01

Auros01

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Nov 17, 2017
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I love learning new things on this forum - I've never heard of "pause" being used in this way.
 
Era Uma Vez

Era Uma Vez

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Feb 5, 2020
3,325
Yeah, people have stopped using no homo for a while now because of the implication of looking like a homophobe.
But all of the sudden, now everyone is using pause, like it doesnt mean the exact same thing.
 
Compbros

Compbros

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Oct 30, 2017
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Pause is ancient. "No Diddy" is the current wave. People also go "Ayo" when "gay" or "sus" things are said.

First time I heard "Pause" was Cam'ron's "Come Home With Me" in 2003 at the end of "Welcome to New York City".

"Get the fuck off our dick, no homo, pause, whatever y'all wanna say for two minutes man".
 
thillygooth

thillygooth

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The Watcher said:
IIRC, the phrase No Homo was considered kinda homophobic, even at the old forum that I won't name. Basically taking certain words and actions as being queer-like or unmanly. Currently, I don't know a lot of people who use the former, but now ⏸️ is a thing and I'm curious why since they both essentially have the same effect. Granted pause is used to more comedic effect, but I personally don't understand why one is used when both flirt with negative connotations about turn of phrases and habits that could be associated with gays (especially gay men) and imo contributes towards othering individuals who are not part of joke. Am I missing the mark?

**I know that neither word is "new", but specifically mentioned pause as a replacement for the former. It's currently very popular in online spaces and other media, enough so that I wonder why no one is really pushing back against its blatant homophobic origins.
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Would you say that you spend a lot of time around black people/people ingrained in black culture? Specifically in the united states?

Because as everyone here is saying, Pause is at least 15 years old. It's only recently been changed to "No Diddy".

For obvious reasons.
 
chronos4590

chronos4590

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Oct 25, 2017
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New?! This has been a thing as early as i can remember. Maybe late 90s. Definitely early to mid 2000s.
And it's irksome.
 
DarthKamen

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Jun 22, 2023
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I've just said pause when my friend says something confusing, or absurd. I didn't realize it was used for innuendos, or homophobic statements.
 
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