# The C word **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 28, 2003, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-c-word/177984 "2003-05-28T10:24:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-c-word/177984/141 "2003-06-03T19:24:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > But to most American speakers of English, there are no comparable words. Sure, there are words with a similar literal meaning, but there are none widely considered as vulgar as “cunt”. I think the literal meaning of the word and its etymology are beside the point here; it’s simply the way the word is _used_ in the US. For most Americans, including many who use other swear words casually, “cunt” is literally unspeakably obscene. This is not hypocrisy, it is a reflection of the fact that, to most Americans, “cunt” is the single most obscene word in the English language. That’s just not true. While YOU might consider it unspeakably obscene, “most Americans” do not. Note the conspicuous absence of news stories about people running screaming from the theaters when _One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest_, and _Silence of the Lambs_ premiered. You are using circular reasoning. You say that the word offends you more because it is more obscene than its male counterparts, yet you say the _reason_ it’s more obscene is because it offends you more. > [@](#): > > It has no accepted casual or neutral usage. Neither do “dick” or “cock”. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-c-word/177984/142 "2003-06-03T19:31:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duke of Rat \* > \*\*You make some pretty sweeping assumptions about what people think. Care to cite?? > > I can and do cuss profusely at times…sometimes to the point where people are amazed at the depth and scope of my cussing abilities. However, I’m not the only person I know that uses cunt as an insult or even a term of endearment. > \*\* I have been careful to qualify my remarks with words like “most” and “many”. That leaves plenty of room for people who do not hold the views that I have described. But do you disagree that _most_ Americans never use the word “cunt” to refer to another person unless they intend it to be a very serious insult? Do you disagree that the word has not entered into casual use in the US to the same degree that virtually every other English obscenity has? I’ve known plenty of people who could hardly make it through a sentence without saying “fuck”, but I have never, in any part of the country, among people of any social class, heard the word “cunt” used casually or frequently. Please be careful not to read anything more into this than I am actually saying. I am not saying it is never used at _all_, or that _no one_ uses it casually or frequently, merely that it is one of the few words in the English language still widely treated as a true obscenity in the US. I would be surprised if any American could truly disagree with this, but if anyone does I would ask them to think about how often they hear the word “cunt” _outside their immediate social circle_ and, of those times, how often it used in reference to another person without it clearly being intended as a high-level obscene insult. If the answer to both is not “rarely, if ever” I would be very surprised indeed. > [@](#): > > \*\* > If you are not a cunt and I call you a cunt, it’s no more insulting than if I called you a dickhead. \*\* I’m not interested in which word is more insulting. I am merely interested in _explaining_ that many Americans may be offended by the word “cunt”, even when the word is not directed at them, because the word is generally considered to be extremely obscene in the US. That is why people who would not blanche at hearing someone called a “dickhead” may be shocked to hear the word “cunt”. Many people would be bothered by both and many others would not be bothered by either, but I think for the majority of adult Americans “dickhead” would be seen as somewhat vulgar while “cunt” is really beyond the pale. One word is commonly considered to be much more obscene than the other. That’s the only point I wish to make in this thread, and I don’t know why I’m not getting it across better. I’ll say it again, as simply as I can, and then I’m out of here because I’m tired of repeating myself: In the US, the word “cunt” is commonly held to be far more obscene than words like “pussy” or “dick”. That is why the former is not used as casually in the US as the latter, and why it is more likely to give offense. Over and out. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-c-word/177984/143 "2003-06-03T20:57:14Z")
We understand what you’re saying, Lamia - we just disagree. It’s not true just because YOU say it is. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-c-word/177984/144 "2003-06-03T21:20:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blowero \* > \*\*We understand what you’re saying, Lamia - we just disagree. \*\* I don’t think you do understand, as your last post attributed sentiments to me that I have not expressed. For instance, I have said nothing at all about being personally offended by the word “cunt”, but you claimed that I did. My only goal in this thread was to explain that many Americans _would_ take offense at it, far greater offense than might be expected by people from the rest of the English speaking world. You may well disagree with that assessment, but for the most part you (and some others) seem to have been disagreeing with things I did not actually say. But I believe I have expressed myself as clearly as my abilities allow, and I don’t wish to drag this thread out with vain attempts to explain myself further. In fact, I intended my last post to be, well, my last one, but since we simulposted then and you’ve responded to me again I didn’t want you to feel that I was ignoring you out of spite or something. It’s just that I’ve said my piece as well as I can say it. Again, feel free to disagree with what I have actually written, but please don’t attempt to infer any meaning _beyond_ what I have written or claim that I said things that I did not. ---
**Author:** ![Amok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-c-word/177984/145 "2003-06-03T21:39:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gary Kumquat \* > > Cunt is not hate speech. It is not a divisive term used to single out a group of people for prejudice. It isn’t? It is (in the US) a slang term for women. Women have faced prejudice. I’m not sure I understand your distinction. > [@](#): > > As cunt is used against men and women, and as there are male swearing equivalents, how can it be a term used to promote hatred or discrimination against a specific group? Well, in the US it has historically only been used to refer to women, as has been pointed out in this thread quite a bit, so I’m not sure what your point is, other than that the word isn’t used in that way in the UK, which I think everyone is clear on by this point. Furthermore, there are not male swearing equivalents. There seems to be a lot of disagreement in this thread about what “cunt” means even among U.S. posters. For instance, I reject (what I perceive as) **blowero’s** claim that “cunt” means a women who is “mean and rude”, essentially the female equivelent of “asshole” or “dick”. The word that means that is “bitch”, which isn’t reqarded as being that offensive. Nor does “cunt” mean someone who is weak or feminine, that word is “pussy”. And “cunt” doesn’t mean a women of loose morals, like “slut” or “whore”. I can’t argue with anyone’s personal experience, and if you’ve used “cunt” in those ways, or that’s how you’ve heard it used, well, OK, that’s one point of data, but I don’t think that is how the word is generally used in the US. How it is used is simply as a perjorative synonym for “woman”. And I think that’s why it’s generally seen as so offensive. Unlike “dick” a woman doesn’t need to do anything to be a “cunt”, she simply is one by virture of being a woman. (This is why there are no male swearing equivalents to “cunt”, “dick” and “prick” are not used to mean “a man”, they’re used to mean “a man I don’t like”.) The most relevant entry at [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=cunt) seems to support this: > [@](#): > > Offensive. Used as a disparaging term for a woman. Although it does have another entry that seems to reflect British usage (but is not labled as specifically British): > [@](#): > > Used as a disparaging term for a person one dislikes or finds extremely disagreeable. For a literary example of “cunt means woman” try Henry Miller’s _Tropic of Cancer_ where the narrator refers to essentially every woman in the book as a cunt, regardless of whether he likes them or not (and only uses the word in reference to women). The book is about 70 years old, but it’s a good historic example of this usage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-c-word/177984.md?page=7)