# The cu\*t word **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 7, 2025, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729 "2025-04-07T08:57:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/61 "2025-04-08T02:03:45Z")
People are too sensitive. I hear both men and women use terms like bitch, slut, whore, cock, dick, prick, or whatever, but for whatever reason, c\*nt is off limits. It’s silly. Obviously, nobody would use any of the above in polite conversation, but when we’re having impolite conversation, why is one of these any worse than the others? It’s not. ---
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/62 "2025-04-08T02:09:20Z")
Lame. Bitch and other ‘misogynistic’ terms are fair game, even for women among women, but the C word is a bridge too far. Please. This isn’t rooted in matriarchal oppression; it’s rooted in religious fundamentalism and Victorianism. We don’t want to talk about female genitalia because we’re a bunch of hypocritical prudes with hangups about nudity or references to private parts. Other parts of the world got past that shit long ago. That is what living outside the United States for a few years would make abundantly clear. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/63 "2025-04-08T02:09:54Z")
Why is the n-word still off limits? Serious question. ---
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/64 "2025-04-08T02:12:03Z")
Because that is **unambiguously** a term associated with racism. If you are a white person using that word, there is no other way to interpret that word other than to conclude you are comfortable using the same words your grandparents and great-grandparents would have used to reinforce subordination. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/65 "2025-04-08T02:17:21Z")
> [@natureboy](#): > > Bitch and other ‘misogynistic’ terms are fair game, even for women among women, but the C word is a bridge too far. Please. I’d expect the “b” word to be moderated as well; I certainly avoid it. What misogynistic words do you think are fair game? I’ve also seen words like “hysterical” and “harpy” moderated, though again the rules on the board aren’t bright line and it depends on context. ---
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/66 "2025-04-08T02:24:44Z")
Maybe have an AI feature that just automatically obscures dirty words and then there’s no controversy. To be honest, if someone wants to drop the n-bomb in the Pit, I think they should be allowed to, and they should be allowed the judgment and incoming virtual foot-stomping they deserve. And to be clear, if someone is actually calling another poster a (pick your insult) then that’s different. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/67 "2025-04-08T02:36:37Z")
> [@natureboy](#): > > To be honest, if someone wants to drop the n-bomb in the Pit, I think they should be allowed to, and they should be allowed the judgment and incoming virtual foot-stomping they deserve. I’m very glad your tolerance of extreme racist terms is in the minority on this board. ---
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/68 "2025-04-08T02:42:31Z")
There is a lot more to fighting the good fight against racism than whether to allow the limited use of epithets. If you want to understand part of the reason why Donald Trump won the election, this discussion we’re having is a clue. People are tired of being policed for their thoughts and why it’s acceptable to use the word bitch but not c\*nt. I mean, people are done with that. I get that Dopers aren’t, but you all live in a bubble and don’t talk to average people, probably thinking you’re better than average people. Here we are in 2025. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/69 "2025-04-08T02:45:26Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > This is post #45 and no one has referred back (except @ParallelLines, indirectly) to The Great C\*\*T Debate of 2009? Short version: Ed Zotti himself formally banned the word, to much consternation and the formation of two splinter boards. I don’t recall if Ed ever lightened up his stance at all, but I don’t think so. It was a tiny bit more than banning just one word. Also, Snuggly Puppy! ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/70 "2025-04-08T02:52:04Z")
Throwing around curse words for the sake of doing it proves you have skewed vocabulary. Its not necessary to have a conversation. If I’m a victorian prude because I don’t like people just cursing and name calling, I’m ok with that. Whether the rest of the world cares or not. My old Granny often said, “If the rest of the world wanted to jump off a cliff, would you?” ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/71 "2025-04-08T02:59:28Z")
“I don’t swear just for the hell of it. Language is a poor enough means of communication. I think we should use all the words we’ve got. Besides, there are damn few words that anybody understands.” Henry Drummond ~ _Inherit the Wind_ ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/72 "2025-04-08T03:03:23Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > It was a tiny bit more than banning just one word. Indeed it was - that would be the longer version. Snuggly Puppy! ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/73 "2025-04-08T03:12:52Z")
Ok. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/74 "2025-04-08T03:14:35Z")
> [@natureboy](#): > > If you want to understand part of the reason why Donald Trump won the election, this discussion we’re having is a clue. So now you’re blaming the SDMB for Trump being elected. 🙄 The potential outcome of a presidential election is no basis for creating rules for a message board, and if you think “we need to tolerate racism or the racists win” is a compelling argument, you don’t know this community very well. ---
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/75 "2025-04-08T03:37:03Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > So now you’re blaming the SDMB for Trump being elected. No, I am not, but I am suggesting that people are done with thought/language-policing. You can think what you want, but I don’t care. This place is a bubble. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/76 "2025-04-08T03:40:18Z")
> [@natureboy](#): > > You can think what you want, but I don’t care. The rules of the board are for the benefit of the board. If it’s a “bubble” then the rules should match what’s in the bubble. If you don’t care what the rest of the board thinks, why are you in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/77 "2025-04-08T03:42:20Z")
> [@natureboy](#): > > I am suggesting that people are done with thought/language-policing. Have you ever ~~met~~ heard a conservative? ---
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/78 "2025-04-08T03:46:27Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > The rules of the board are for the benefit of the board. If it’s a “bubble” then the rules should match what’s in the bubble. Pop the bubble, maybe. > [@Atamasama](#): > > If you don’t care what the rest of the board thinks, why are you in this thread? To convince people that maybe they need to relax their ‘standards’ a bit and let conversations happen, even if it might offend their senses and sensibilities. ---
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/79 "2025-04-08T03:47:20Z")
Sure, but two wrongs don’t make a right. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729/80 "2025-04-08T03:56:02Z")
These two quotes: > [@natureboy](#): > > People are tired of being policed for their thoughts and why it’s acceptable to use the word bitch but not c\*nt. I mean, people are done with that. I get that Dopers aren’t, but you all live in a bubble and don’t talk to average people, probably thinking you’re better than average people. > [@natureboy](#): > > but I am suggesting that people are done with thought/language-policing. You can think what you want, but I don’t care. This place is a bubble. … suggest to me that @natureboy believes the SDMB is a “bubble” where we all get our panties in a twist at the evil C word. I don’t know where you get that idea; if you actually read the conversation, hardly anyone posting in this thread is outraged at the word, and indeed many of us, myself included, don’t mind it and could care less the rules were changed to allow its use. Some sample quotes: > [@kambuckta](#): > > I’m an Aussie, where the cu-t word is par for the course. > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Myself I don’t have a problem with that word, or any word. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Whatever it may be elsewhere it’s a “fighting word” here in the US. > [@kambuckta](#): > > I refuse to stop using the word because of some naif sensibilities of some US messageboard. Unless a mod tells me not to of course 😛 > [@Boudicca90](#): > > that word isn’t taken as lightly around here because of that. It is still very much a misogynistic insult here and isn’t as accepted as it is in other countries. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > It’s still a misogynistic insult when used to describe men. > [@ParallelLines](#): > > Personally, I’m very much in Puzzlegal’s camp in terms of my concerns as a poster: > [@Aspenglow](#): > > The word doesn’t personally bother me > [@Ellecram](#): > > But this American doesn’t like either of those words. They are jarring and bring on a waterfall of uncomfortable emotions. > > So I don’t use them. But it’s fine if other people want too. I lust let it slip on by. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I mind…I’ve never encountered grown up people who feel the need to call others nasty names. So yeah, some people don’t mind the word and some do. How does that make the SDMB a “bubble”? ISTM that we’re have an interesting and entirely valid conversation about the role of language within culture. If having that discussion means we’re in a “bubble,” let me in. It’s my kind of bubble. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cu-t-word/1016729.md?page=5)