Well, one of good principles here is to attack the content of a given post but not make it personal by attacking the poster. In other words, one debates ideas and doesn’t denigrate individuals. So, if someone vehemently and aggressively promotes the idea that the moon is truly made out of cheese, he isn’t going to be called a “stupid cunt” or a “stupid prick” for that reason. In the Pit, however, people have been called pretty much everything. LOL
In the 90s, it was common to call people gay as an insult and people would clarify with how it didn’t mean they were a homosexual, it meant they were lame and everyone knows homosexuals are lame so it’s fine.
If you fell asleep tonight and woke up tomorrow in the 90s, would you happily go around calling everyone you didn’t like gay because everyone else was doing it or would you be like, it’s kinda fucked up we did that back then and you wouldn’t do it again even if you had the permission?
This is a board populated primarily by Americans, and 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. Just because something is okay in Australian culture, doesn’t mean it is everywhere else.
This is not my official opinion as a mod. I can’t speak for all the mods. This is my off-the-cuff comment as a poster:
It’s still a misogynistic insult when used to describe men. Basically, “You are so bad you are like a bad woman”. Perhaps its semantic content is different in Australia, but that’s what it means in the US.
Communication is a two way street. You should be mindful of what your audience will read, not just of what you are thinking when you write. In this case, a lot of your audience is going to interpret your post in a more offensive way than you apparently intended.
Errrr, nope, sorry, maybe amongst a group of builders down the pub, but I would never use the word ‘cunt’ amongst acquaintances or professional colleagues in the UK, which means I also wouldn’t use it amongst the nice strangers on this message board.
I am not a mod, not even in my dreams.
I think this nails the opinion of most American Dopers and is a darn good guess on management’s official position.
Most of us comprehend that especially Aussie plus some other Commonwealth countries’ usages are quite different than American usage. But most of also don’t remember who’s Aussie / Commonwealth and who isn’t. And don’t much care to find that word salted into our morning reading. As might be expected, the women tends to get real hostile about this, far more so than the men. Almost regardless of the gender of the target it’s applied to.
I’ll suggest as a lowly, albeit prolific, poster that our OP will trigger a lot more utterly unnecessary outrage and backlash using it than they now expect. I expect there are other broadly similar words that get almost the same point across to AU & CW & US audiences. Asshole / Arsehole being IMO a decent first stab at one such.
For balance, I was going to ask the OP to supply a word that’s similarly offensive in Australia, so we can scoff at and dismiss those concerns as irrelevant and silly, too.
<off-topic tangent>
On British forums, I’ve seen the word Bowdlerized not to “cu*t” or “c*nt”, but to “cnut”. Which, incidentally, is one British spelling of (Danish) King Knut the Great’s name.
Yes, I’m easily amused. Why do you ask?
</ott>
Aargh! Discourse won’t let me post proper links. Cnut - Wikipedia
I can’t imagine a word more offensive in Australia than elsewhere. They’re so chill over there, from my experience.
At the risk of invoking a codicil of Godwin’s Law - would it be OK to display or link to swastikas here if you’re from a country where they’re regarded as innocent symbols of good luck and prosperity, such as India, Thailand and China?
I’ve seen videos from the UK and AUS. It is usually clear if someone is talking about their mate at the pub being a cnt versus talking about how some woman is being a cnt (US usage). Maybe it’s just me but I’ve not seen it as demeaning a man by calling him a woman like calling a guy a pussy or bitch would be. That interpretation would seem more of the “Everything in the world follows American rules.”
ISTM that as mods say there rarely is bright-line modding that they could allow the Commonwealth usage yet still keep the rule against misogyny.
Great question. If I link a pic of a Navajo blanket with the swastika as the sun sign, should we rely on the mods being able to say, “That’s not Nazi.”?
At the risk of being Captain Obvious, I was not suggesting that swastika displays are a good idea.
I think “fanny” is considered vulgar in the UK. Maybe not Australia.
I get that, but you raised the point if the Board can/should allow non-Nazi swastikas which IMO is a great question.
I hear Brits say fanny all the time – I think it’s a relatively mild word that just means vagina instead of rear end.
Interesting… I am in the UK and I hear the word a lot. It’s not one I like to use, but if angered enough I will. But I have never once used it to infer the target is ‘like a bad woman’?? I hadn’t even considered that someone MIGHT think it is used in that way. In my experience it is a totally sex-neutral term that can be used towards men and women equally to convey serious disapproval of their behaviour. I will make sure I think twice before using it outside my immediate circle.
If the context is really clear, and it makes sense to link it on that context, probably. If it’s at all ambiguous, I’d probably interpret it as an edge-lord move.
Fwiw, the swastika used to be an innocent symbol of good luck in the US, too. My bil has a collection of images where it’s used that way, many of them greeting cards. That’s not what it means here now.
This is a US-based board. I think our rule against “encouraging illegal activity” even references what a hypothetical Chicago police officer would think.
AI says “suckhole”, but I have my doubts.
I have no issues with the rule about the C word.
This is by no means universally true.
Just a reminder of the most recent prior thread we had on this specific term (there are more):
Personally, I’m very much in Puzzlegal’s camp in terms of my concerns as a poster:
With an added anecdote. In a reasonably recent thread I used a (self-depreciating) slur. It was mocking certain stereotypes about my people, and I used it in an ironic sense. Another poster replied using the same term, again, following my use. A moderator cautioned the other poster for their use of the term, which created stress for all involved. It was my fault, and all were acting in good faith, but I can see the same happening with “free” use of the word in question.
Again, posting my experiences as a poster and my concerns. I think the prior thread avoided the bright line of a ban, but discouraged it, and I would also concur.