# How Offensive Is The Word "C\*\*T" In The US? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 2, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060 "2009-03-02T21:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/21 "2009-03-02T22:37:48Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > I have never heard it spoken aloud. For some perspective, the only person I’ve ever called a cunt to her face was my mother, the last time I spoke to her about 11 years ago. I don’t expect either of us will ever speak to the other again. This was what I was going for when I chose the word. (Believe me, if you knew my mother, you’d be amazed at my restraint.) ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/22 "2009-03-02T22:50:14Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Is _bastard_ really offensive in Austrailia and New Zealand? We are sort of off-handed about it in the USA. We rarely use it in its legal sense, but often use it to describe intentionally unpleasant men. It’s never used for a woman. Depends on context, but no, not especially: you’d certainly hear it on mainstream TV past 8.30 pm {then again, you’d hear “fuck” and occasionally “motherfucker” too, which I gather is not the case in the US}, which is when it’s judged that kids are in bed and adults are able to deal with it. I probably wouldn’t call someone a bastard to his face, but I’d certainly use it of someone without too many qualms. And again, it’s quite capable of being used respectfully or even affectionately of - or even to - someone. Anecdote: when I worked in Japan, it was with a mix of English-speaking nationalities, and you did sometimes need to watch your language. A friend of mine from Leeds announced in the teachers lounge that he’d just arranged a two week holiday in Thailand, to which I deadpanned to him “Cunt”. He just laughed, since the tendency in England/NZ/Australia is to say the _opposite_ of what you mean {unless you _really_ mean it…} as a badge of blokey camaraderie, but a couple of Americans were present and they were _shocked_: “You just called him a _cunt!_”. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/23 "2009-03-02T23:32:49Z")
I’m sure I’ve heard “cunt” spoken on _Sex in the City_. How does that fit with the use of swear words on broadcast TV? I’m a Kiwi and wouldn’t normally say cunt, but it depends a lot on the company you keep. I hear it a lot from other people, but as **Scissorjack** said, it is still the worst of the swear words available to us to use, just maybe not as shocking as how it’s viewed in the US. I have a friend, his last name is Hunt. He has various nicknames such as “Pork” and “Eurick,” which he seems to relish. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/24 "2009-03-02T23:33:04Z")
So, Dopers from the UK, Oz, or NZ, what word would you all consider to be the conversational atomic bomb? What do you say when you really mean it? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/25 "2009-03-02T23:39:20Z")
Maybe it’s a generational thing, but if I had to pick a curse word to use in class cunt would be before fuck (but after damn, bitch, shit and the others which are generally “curse word light” as far as college kids are concerned). It’s certainly up there, but it’s not exactly the be-all end-all of cussing as some people seem to be making it out to be. 19/M/Arizona(US) if it makes any difference. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/26 "2009-03-02T23:43:06Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:23, topic:488060”] I’m sure I’ve heard “cunt” spoken on _Sex in the City_. How does that fit with the use of swear words on broadcast TV? [/quote] _Sex and the City_ was made for pay cable, which is not subject to broadcast standards. There are a lot of Americans who avoid shows like that which are known to freely use curse words. And the use of “cunt” in that show was meant to be shocking – it was by no means casual. ---
**Author:** ![wonder9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c57346/32.png) [@wonder9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder9)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/27 "2009-03-02T23:50:59Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > My experience is that people will get pretty mad if you call them a cunt, but that you can use the term in reference to anatomy or in a joking sense without greatly offending people… Sorry. It’s still ferociously crude, insulting and offensive regardless of how it is used. To the OP’s question, it’s the most offensive word I can think, in any context, said by anyone, for any reason. ---
**Author:** ![chicken\_wire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@chicken\_wire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicken_wire)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/28 "2009-03-03T00:00:00Z")
I don’t have any atomic swear words, really. Nothing beyond what you’d say to mates in jest. It would have to be in the delivery. I’d only call a man a ‘cunt’. It’s not that I’d find it unacceptably offensive to use for a woman, but it just sounds unconvincing, it’s the wrong usage. I’ve seen men call women ‘cunt’ on US TV and in movies, and it sounds slightly off to me. Around here, blokes call other blokes cunts on a regular basis. It’s most often preceded by an adjective: stupid cunt, dumb cunt, strange cunt, cheap cunt, etc. A common retort to being called a cunt would be along the lines of: “I don’t care if you call me a cunt, cunts are useful”. Being called a ‘dead cunt’ is presumably worse again for this reason. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/29 "2009-03-03T00:11:08Z")
As a woman explained to me when I was much younger, you don’t use this word around women, ever, even to insult a woman who isn’t there. There’s just something about that word. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/30 "2009-03-03T00:12:40Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > So, Dopers from the UK, Oz, or NZ, what word would you all consider to be the conversational atomic bomb? What do you say when you really mean it? What **chicken wire?** said: there really _isn’t_ one. “Cunt” is probably the most offensive, but as I’ve said its usage varies a lot on both context and delivery, and it’s by no means an ultimate taboo. As an insult it’s probably going to be prefixed with something, for example “Learn to drive, you stupid cunt!”. ---
**Author:** ![Dave.B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9f8e36/32.png) [@Dave.B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave.B)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/31 "2009-03-03T00:18:21Z")
Even when you completely detach the meaning, the word itself just _sounds_ vulgar. Without wanting to start a list of euphemisms for female genitalia, there isn’t one, with the possible exception of “twat”, that comes close. But again with that one, it has that same short, sharp, one syllable punch that drives the offensiveness home. UK, male, 31 and I can’t bring myself to type the word, even though it’s been used multiple times already, and I really do like Brick Top’s description of himself in Snatch. ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/32 "2009-03-03T00:42:40Z")
> [@Dave.B](#): > > Even when you completely detach the meaning, the word itself just _sounds_ vulgar. Without wanting to start a list of euphemisms for female genitalia, there isn’t one, with the possible exception of “twat”, that comes close. But again with that one, it has that same short, sharp, one syllable punch that drives the offensiveness home. > > UK, male, 31 and I can’t bring myself to type the word, even though it’s been used multiple times already, and I really do like Brick Top’s description of himself in Snatch. Oddly, I noticed that someone used the word “twat” on a U.S. television show (Top Chef) just a week or two ago, and it wasn’t bleeped out! I was shocked, but not offended, and a little amused. Using the “c” word is more offensive than anything I can think of, to point of hate speech. I curse like a sailor, but I do not use that word, nor the “n” word for black people, nor the “f” word for gay people. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/33 "2009-03-03T00:54:26Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Cunt is more offensive than fuck, shit, piss, or cock, and somewhat less offensive than nigger. > > But, you know, all this is dependent on context. You’d never hear any of these words on mainstream television. But I suppose there are specific contexts – non-professional, non-public – in which you might not be too shocked to hear some of them. If you want people to think you are a jerk, use the word. The word is just not used in even semi-polite company. Drunk men bragging among themselves about women will use “pussy” instead. But even black people will use the “n” word among themselves. In the USofA the “c” word is not used except to declare “war”. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/34 "2009-03-03T00:58:05Z")
They haven’t even used it on _South Park_ yet. It’s that offensive. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/35 "2009-03-03T01:05:03Z")
I know of few women who don’t go bananas over the word, even if it’s use is not aimed at them but somebody else. Context matters, though. Uttering “I love to f_ck your hot c_nt” during a bout of consensual doggy style may have different results than saying “f_ck you, c_nt” when she asks why you dogged her last night and didn’t show up for your date. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/36 "2009-03-03T01:12:29Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > So, Dopers from the UK, Oz, or NZ, what word would you all consider to be the conversational atomic bomb? What do you say when you really mean it? You could always call somebody a “paedophile” or “racist”. There’s no way those words could be construed as mock insults. But it comes back to that imbalance in exposure to one another’s culture - Brits know that “motherfucker” is not necessarily as offensive as it sounds, because they hear it so often in American film and TV productions. Nevertheless, it is not really part of British vernacular. “Cunt” is used in everyday British speech just like “motherfucker” is in North America. But Americans don’t get to hear it as much, because they just don’t watch as many British films or TV shows. That is why “cunt” is more shocking to Americans than “motherfucker” or its equivalent is to Brits. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/37 "2009-03-03T01:16:06Z")
To me, c\*\*t implies that a woman is that and nothing more, like it’s her only redeeming quality and even that is so low in quality that a nicer word can’t be used to name it. From a sort of poetic economy—most impact for the fewest words/syllables, I can’t think of a worse word. The N bomb is bad too; I think they’re on a par. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/38 "2009-03-03T01:18:17Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > They haven’t even used it on _South Park_ yet. It’s that offensive. This is incorrect. Sort of. In season 7, episode 110 (the Raisins episode) Stan asks Jimmy to tell Wendy that she’s “a continuing source of inspiration for him”. When Jimmy (who stutters) see’s Wendy, he tells her that Stan says shes “a cont…a cont…a cont..” (a cunt, a cunt, a cunt). > **[Raisins (South Park)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raisins_(South_Park_episode))** > > "Raisins" is the fourteenth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 110th episode of the series overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on December 10, 2003. In the episode, Wendy breaks up with Stan, causing him to spiral into a deep depression. The boys, in an attempt to make him feel better, take him to Raisins, a parody of American restaurant chain Hooters. Meanwhile, Butters becomes infatuated with a waitress at R... > **[South Park | Watch Free Episodes](https://southpark.cc.com/episodes)** > > Watch free episodes and relive the dawn of the South Park era.Follow everyone's favorite troublemakers—Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny--from the very beginning of their unforgettable adventures. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/39 "2009-03-03T01:23:12Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Maybe it’s a generational thing, but if I had to pick a curse word to use in class cunt would be before fuck (but after damn, bitch, shit and the others which are generally “curse word light” as far as college kids are concerned). It’s certainly up there, but it’s not exactly the be-all end-all of cussing as some people seem to be making it out to be. Seriously? My main memories of the word: 1: When I was in 11th grade, a classmate, inspired by the appearance of the word in the book we were reading, in an entirely jocular context directed at no one in particular, casually said something about some hypothetical person being a cunt. The (female) teacher went berserk, stopping class and practically spitting as she laid down the law; “damn”, “shit”, “fuck”, whatever, who cares?, but to her, “cunt” was clearly way out-of-line. 2: You know that game where you waste time with some friends by just shouting out “penis” or “fuck” or some other eyebrow-raising word in a public place, seeing who’s willing to go the furthest (loudest, most attention), etc.? [Maybe not, it’s kind of a dumb game, but it’s the sorta thing that exists in mid-adolescence; anyway, Wikipedia has [an article on it](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_game)]. We played with a hypothetical sliding scale where those were at the bottom, going on up through even “nigger”, and crowning with “cunt” at the top. Only, we all frankly admitted, none of us were ever actually going to have the balls to shout “cunt” in any kind of public setting at school, even context-less and entirely devoid of any malice. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060/40 "2009-03-03T01:47:06Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Context matters, though. Uttering “I love to f_ck your hot c_nt” during a bout of consensual doggy style may have different results than saying “f_ck you, c_nt” when she asks why you dogged her last night and didn’t show up for your date. Yeah, when it comes to referring to female genitalia, “cunt” is somewhat on the coarse side, but by no means beyond the pale: I had a girlfriend once who routinely referred to it her cunt. “Pussy” is probably more common, but “cunt” has the advantage of not being a euphemism: it is after all a very old word - Chaucer used it, although he spelt it “queynte”, which was quaint - and it doesn’t seem to have become taboo until several centuries later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-c-t-in-the-us/488060.md?page=3)