# Question about language restriction in The BBQ Pit **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 13, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-language-restriction-in-the-bbq-pit/609435 "2012-01-13T21:32:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-language-restriction-in-the-bbq-pit/609435/21 "2012-01-14T17:47:23Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Why is it okay to call someone a dick (or prick or cock) in the Pit, but not okay to call someone a cunt? **Bo** , color me a little surprised you didn’t just go down to the query and throw stuff in. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-language-restriction-in-the-bbq-pit/609435/22 "2012-01-14T18:32:13Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > **Bo** , color me a little surprised you didn’t just go down to the query and throw stuff in. Nice! To be fair, in this instance I was trying to get stuff _out_ of the query. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-language-restriction-in-the-bbq-pit/609435/23 "2012-01-15T00:15:43Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > “People generally find it more offensive” IS the explanation. It’s not like words have objective or inherent meaning beyond what we as a culture assign to them. “Cunt” is considered one of the more offensive words in American English, considerably more offensive than “dick”. Why? Because people generally consider it so. Is this a genuinely difficult concept? Also, I find it hard to believe that anyone grew up in this country without realizing that “cunt” is a stronger word than “dick”. I mean, really, sell us another one. > > (In British English-speaking areas, the relative offensiveness is quite different, but Ed is American, so here we are.) +1(or more, even) ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-language-restriction-in-the-bbq-pit/609435/24 "2012-01-15T00:25:08Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > You know, it’s funny but I always did think “cunt” was more offensive than “dick” until we started having all these discussions about it here on the Dope, and I appear to have become sensitized to the word. So maybe the reason has to do with how often the word is heard in a non-insulting context. In other words hearing people say “cunt” over and over without telling me I am an “f’ing cunt” has robbed the word of some of its magic power. The logical conclusion to this would seem to be making all words legal, but something tells me that’s not going to happen. It’s interesting, though. This is how I feel about as well. It doesn’t bother me in the same way that it used to. Although I would still not be comfortable using it myself, I don’t cringe when I read it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-language-restriction-in-the-bbq-pit/609435/25 "2012-01-16T20:40:51Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > My native language is English, and I don’t “intuitively understand” it. \ I can concede that you don’t “intuitively understand” why it’s considered a worse insult than say, calling a woman a bitch. But you _ **do** _ understand that society (at this point, in time) deems it to be a more serious insult, do you not? If you somehow doubt that’s the case, then you obviously (to me, at least) have never used the word ‘cunt’ to insult a woman. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-language-restriction-in-the-bbq-pit/609435/26 "2012-01-16T21:17:31Z")
I suspect the prohibition would be considerably more vast if various dicks and pricks and cocks and assholes weren’t grandfathered in. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-language-restriction-in-the-bbq-pit/609435/27 "2012-01-16T22:21:22Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > “Dick” has some connotations that are not always so negative and can even be funny or playful sometimes. > > For example, I know some guys in a band called “The Five Dicks.” At least four of them are Richard. 🙂 > > There’s a whole lot of dick jokes out there. > > There are few cunt jokes. What three Chicago streets rhyme with vagina? Paulina, Regina and Lunt. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-language-restriction-in-the-bbq-pit/609435/28 "2012-01-16T22:30:10Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I suspect the prohibition would be considerably more vast if various dicks and pricks and cocks and assholes weren’t grandfathered in. Sandusky’s your grandpa too, huh? ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-language-restriction-in-the-bbq-pit/609435/29 "2012-01-16T22:47:17Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Assume this hypothetical: that there is someone reading this who does not “intuitively understand” it; explain why “cunt” is much more degrading and insulting than “dick”. > > ETA: Mods, if this is straying too far from the avowed purpose of ATMB, please let me know and we can continue the discussion elsewhere. This [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=628361&highlight=cunt) touched on that subject, also. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-language-restriction-in-the-bbq-pit/609435.md?page=1)