# Can we start calling each cunts in the pit again please? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 29, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148 "2009-08-29T13:02:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/21 "2009-08-31T16:10:37Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > [This is all covered in the sticky,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508858) which says the listed words “should not be directed at other posters.” It also says “don’t play games” with comparisons. Why is it so hard to get a straight answer to a direct question around here? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/22 "2009-08-31T16:19:22Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Why is it so hard to get a straight answer to a direct question around here? I don’t know; I suspect there is fear that if they give a straight answer it will be used against them in the future, but since moving the goalposts has become such a popular hobby, I wouldn’t think it would really matter. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/23 "2009-08-31T16:21:02Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Why is it so hard to get a straight answer to a direct question around here? Because you keep changing the question? > [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Why couldn’t you conduct such a discussion, then? Are you planning on leaving? > [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Can I use it to describe someone who is not a poster? Can I use it to describe the behavior of a poster? Can I use it to refer to the anatomy of a poster? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/24 "2009-08-31T16:38:48Z")
Hell with what we call each other, when can we start behaving like cunts in the Pit again? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/25 "2009-08-31T16:52:08Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > Because you keep changing the question? Well that’s not fair. Is asking two questions in the same post really changing the question? You know it isn’t. It’s the second question, or series of questions, that were evaded. You know, the ones Marley responded to? Said response which I quoted? How is that changing the question? Where did I claim a question was unanswered by changing the question? Precisely, please. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/26 "2009-08-31T16:53:06Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Why is it so hard to get a straight answer to a direct question around here? **Contrapuntal** , I not only answered your question, I linked directly to the rule itself, which answered your question six months before you asked it. That’s been up there since the beginning of March. Enforcement of these rules in the Pit has not changed a jot since they were posted. You are not allowed to call another poster a cunt, directly or indirectly. There’s no rule against saying it about people who don’t post here or using it in the anatomical sense, although if you do it excessively or in a way that looks like a veiled insult you’ll probably be told to knock it off. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/27 "2009-08-31T17:04:01Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > There’s no rule against saying it about people who don’t post here or using it in the anatomical sense, although if you do it excessively or in a way that looks like a veiled insult you’ll probably be told to knock it off. There you go. A straight answer to a direct question. Please show me where you gave that answer previously. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/28 "2009-08-31T17:04:30Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > It’s the “words like” thing that gets you. I keep telling my sister that when she says “gosh darn it”, there is no ethical difference than if she had said “God damn it”. The phonemes are different, but the sentiment from the heart is the same. But it’s not the sentiment from the heart that alone has to be considered, it’s the effect on those who hear it or read it and “gosh darn it” and “God damn it” do not have identical impact. And the word cunt, for whatever reason, has probably the greatest impact of any of the Anglo-Saxon expletives and the greatest power to offend. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/29 "2009-08-31T17:07:57Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > There you go. A straight answer to a direct question. Please show me where you gave that answer previously. Post 20, where I linked to the rule and quoted part of it. Unless you’re telling me you didn’t understand that “[the words] should not be directed at other posters” means “don’t call other posters these words.” ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/30 "2009-08-31T17:12:18Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Post 20, where I linked to the rule and quoted part of it. Unless you’re telling me you didn’t understand that “[the words] should not be directed at other posters” means “don’t call other posters these words.” What I don’t understand is your claim that your link and subsequent response says anything about anatomical references, or persons who are not posters. Can you please show me where, in post 20, are the exact words you used to refer to those questions? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/31 "2009-08-31T17:22:00Z")
But I \*like \*calling people cunts. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/32 "2009-08-31T17:24:24Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > But I \*like \*calling people cunts. You’ll have to settle for saying that they have a certain country air about them. Until that becomes against the rules as well. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/33 "2009-08-31T17:25:46Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > But it’s not the sentiment from the heart that alone has to be considered, it’s the effect on those who hear it or read it and “gosh darn it” and “God damn it” do not have identical impact. And the word cunt, for whatever reason, has probably the greatest impact of any of the Anglo-Saxon expletives and the greatest power to offend. You make an excellent point. I’ll have to reconsider my position. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/34 "2009-08-31T17:29:39Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > What I don’t understand is your claim that your link and subsequent response says anything about anatomical references, or persons who are not posters. Maybe we’re talking past each other here, but I thought it was clear the exception proves the rule: the sticky, and my post, both specifically say you can’t direct the insults at other posters. If you were not allowed to use it anatomically or about non-posters, the sticky (and my post repeating the content of the sticky) would say so. > [@](#): > > Can you please show me where, in post 20, are the exact words you used to refer to those questions? I don’t think this is really that complicated. 😛 My post was not in Aramaic. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/35 "2009-08-31T18:01:08Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > If you are unable to conduct a discussion without using words like “cunt” and “nigger,” then perhaps you should seek other boards where such things are viewed as “appropriate” (using your word.) Luckily for the OP, the Internet has no shortages of places where uncouthness is not only permitted, but welcomed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/36 "2009-08-31T18:49:39Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > You’ll have to settle for saying that they have a certain country air about them. Until that becomes against the rules as well. This thread is becoming a little silly, and I hesitate to add to it. But here goes: No need to add to the rules exists along those lines. If I were to use your ploy and complain that anyone here has “a certain country air” about them, I would no doubt have the rule quoted to me by a mod, be told sharply to cease and desist from playing games with the rules, and, depending on the circumstances, be told that I was being hit with an official warning. **Or worse.** ETA: But as someone who had fought against anything even smacking as “censorship” while in college (I even “complied” with a new college paper clean-up directive as copy editor by substituting the character string _**$[-]!+**_ [substitute a dagger mark for the plus sign] for the original expletive.) I am still somewhat in sympathy with you. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/37 "2009-08-31T18:53:21Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > If you are unable to conduct a discussion without using words like “cunt” and “nigger,” then perhaps you should seek other boards where such things are viewed as “appropriate” (using your word.) It seems a bit unpleasant to conflate strong language and racist language as you’re doing here; I don’t see any sign that **Angry Lurker** would like “nigger” to be on the acceptable list, and phrasing your disagrement the way you have done here inadvertently gives the impression that (he? she?) would. Too, it seems like something of an unnecessary link, and cynically it seems to me designed in order to attempt to grant strong language the emotional weight of racist language. By listing alternate things that will remain banned, apparently unprovoked, seems to seek to put strong language on an equal footing with racism, threats of violence, illegality, spam, and pornographic links. I mean, I can understand listing other offences in order to get across precisely how important - and how unlikely to be overturned - this rule is to the moderating team, but I think you may have accidentally gone a bit too far there. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/38 "2009-08-31T18:58:24Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > You’ll have to settle for saying that they have a certain country air about them. Until that becomes against the rules as well. I wouldn’t play this game unless I thought **Gfactor** had the reading comprehension of a small rock. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/39 "2009-08-31T19:50:05Z")
Just call folks snuggly puppy. They’ll know what you mean. [Link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508067) ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148/40 "2009-08-31T19:51:54Z")
Can we describe people as “cunty,” or describe them as behaving “cuntily”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-start-calling-each-cunts-in-the-pit-again-please/508148.md?page=3)