Why be unkind?

[nullnaught]

It's kind of hard to take a new word for something we already have an accepted one. The problem with coming up with something entirely different to address the subject is that it loses a visceral connection to the subject, queer works precisely because it is so provocative. The word is already a stand in for the older term "deviant," and queer has the benefit of being more open to positive reinterpretations.

Queer is intentionally exclusive precisely because it is so provacative. Most actual scholars look to be as neutral as possible in their language, I understand from a mathematician friend of mine.