I think I started to love the word after seeing that Bette Midler clip. She was speaking before some women's organization and she talked about how strong women get treated in Hollywood. It was something like, "And then they started calling me that word. You know what word I'm talking about, ladies. It starts with 'c' and it ends with 't' and it's cunt."

It's a very satisfying word. Feels good in the mouth...BYOPunchline.

I realized the other day that reams of fanfic have made cunt transparent to me.

It's no longer offensive. I need to remember that this is just me, and that many people are still shocked by it.

wrod. I'd embraced it (...er) after watching The Vagina Monologues, but reading fanfic has totally shifted my appropriateness-o-meter. (See also: "Shoot him in the cock! Shoot him in the fucking cock!" being yelled fervently at Jack Bauer on Season 1 of 24. Visualise the way my mother's eyebrow silently arched.)

...But I refuse to get behind warning her for not feeling the way you, Katie, Fay, Nutty want her to feel.

...is anyone else under the impression that I have already had anything to do with the Allyson thing?I'm waving the flag of Chill and Doblerize, but please note that my none of my posts concerned whether Allyson should feel good, feel bad, say sorry, hop on one leg or whistle the national anthem. The whole explosion happened after I'd gone to bed.

edited because of needless length of emotive quotation. And because saying 'I'm not bringing X up' when I'm referencing it as quickly as possible is clearly pants.

I think Allyson should sing Bye Bye Bye. And FPA.

I am drawing that pic of JC, and I WILL detail the pirate outfit.

The first time I saw the word "cunt" was in Delores Claiborne, and I thought it meant pretty much the same thing as "bitch." It got a lot of raised eyebrows when I used it in a family game of Scrabble.

I gotta tell ya. Having a linguist on Speed Dial is ridiculously handy.

Oh come on! Gimme some fist-pumping-action!

I think Allyson should sing Bye Bye Bye. And FPA.

I want to add "and a Bee Gees song", but I don't know what FPA is. Would I be repetitive if I did?

On edit: And now I do.

Allyson, I honestly think that here, it's just a word. It's a word that is an extreme version of "bad person", sure, but it is no longer a way of actually calling someone a vagina.

I agree it also has the sexist elements of meaning vagina, but when used in the same way as "bastard" or "dickhead", I think the sexism has been lost. I'm far more likely to hear a male use it for another male, than as a female putdown.

Julie, he did mention that in the UK, not such a big deal, except that cunt is still a word for vagina, and it's still meant to be offensive, ergo, it's sexist.

I think it's probably the "worst" swearword we have. Some people use it a lot, though. Now in Ireland, afaik, "cunt" and definitely "fuck" are transparent in a lot of company. (Especially on Craggy Island.) If you ever see the play The Weir, which is set in the countryside and has five or six blokes sitting in a pub with a girl who's new to the area, they're all good naturedly trying to impress her with long stories and anecdotes and the conversation is full of 'fuck' and (I *think*) 'cunt' without anyone being bothered, and then someone says something far less shocking (to me) like "bloody" or "damn" and there's a horrified pause, and he blushingly apologises.

edited for clarity.

considers going and getting a coffee. brain evidently not yet fully engaged.