wwh: No it isn't a put-down. People who are into those things would gladly describe themselves as "goth." Personally, from little I truly understand of cultural history, they are a variant of Romantics. They do have a fascination with things that are considered macabre, like vampires, but they also have a fascination with things that are...what's the word for it?...kinda old fashioned in some way, in a way that turns its back a little on modern "convenience culture" like fast food and the general blandness of suburbia. I'm sure there is a lot of variety in this sub-culture, and you could find a goth reading Anne Rice novels, or the poems of Keats, or wearing leather pants to a dance club.