Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the uses of 'cunt' and "the 'N' word" historically different? I mean, you would never have had two KKK members calling each other the latter. It was, as I understand, a purely derogatory term, directed at a specific group of people.

On the other hand, I've heard guys called cunts on a semi-regular basis (the example that leaps to mind was Wade's "Clever Cunt" alter-ego.) But that's just my opinion (man, what a horrible week for writing stuff that could be excellent ammunition against a future political career.)



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Alison, maybe he was nervous because you kept looking away and then whipping your head back to see where he was looking.



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Magnificent Mullet Masterpieces
Latin, h2g2 style
Urban Tanks no more
Secrets revealed
Apparently, people don't like online registration for free content (Go figure)

and on a totally different train of thought (hence new message)

Jeremy, I noticed no blatant gazing at my chest during my meeting.
feet and legs, though, yes.
so unless he likes feet, or didn't really want to talk to me... ...I dunno
he seemed not to be at ease, a little bit flustered, a bit stumbling over his words
Made me think of one of my cousins who didn't learn to talk until he was 4.
I didn't think he was like that: seemingly shy and lacking confidence.
I actually thought he was a fairly collected, put-together sort of person.
maybe just today... maybe just me.
I doubt he ever had a crush on me though.
And man, was his office ever hot, stifling even.
I think I like working in the cold basement, if that's the alternative.
we've got like 3 more meetings together in the near future,
and it almost felt like his thoughts were about
how it'd be better to be pulling teeth than meeting with me.
Or perhaps this first meeting was just awkward because neither
of us knows the other even though we really should from highschool.

Very interesting point, Jess. (and a good one at that too) Sure, changing language is a symptom of the alteration of our culture so perhaps that's why some of us refuse to use certain words... we're refusing to change in that way too. And, yes, bandaid solutions will never solve the problem, but they could bring attention to the problem. Like not wanting to say cunt because it's insulting, yet by discussing why you're choosing not to use it, you're working on the problem, maybe even fixing it.

On that thought, it's interesting how the feminist movement is starting to "reclaim" words like cunt for their own purposes now, like the "N" word has been "reclaimed,"I think. (apparently what Inga Muscio's book Cunt is about)

twat doesn't bother me though.

On an intellectual level, I'd have to agree with you Alison that gender
(or race or sexual orientation) specific or originated insults are
a bad thing as they add to the whole conception of Us and Them
which isn't particularly useful, unless that's your goal, in which case
I guess it is useful. But I don't particularly care.

Insulting each other is pretty common, and calling someone a douchebag is
kinda fun and that's not the problem. The problem is discrimation and
the prejudice. No one cares that Beck calls Jer Frenchie, though that
could be interpreted the same way.

I think people concerned about equality should worry far less about the language
friends use to insult (and bond) with each other and concentrate on the fact that
gay people can't get married or that white men make more money than anyone else or
all the other, less-easily measured realities. Changing langauge habits won't change
those things and is ultimately a band-aid solution - "what'd you make me for dinner?"
isn't much better than "what'd you make me for dinner, bitch?" And those changes have
to happen on more personal, day-to-day efforts.

As for Eric's suggestion that efforts to limit language should be deeply questioned:
in general yes, in the case of these types of insults, I don't know. Language is a
reflection of our culture and our culture is also influenced by our language so
why not use language in order to influence the way we think? It's not that different from
banning hate literature. But I guess you can make an arguement about that too.

Yes.

Hey anybody know leo's e-mail address?

Yeehaw! A cell-phone virus!

I would disagree with the designation of "cunt" to be a unisex insult.
At least I've never heard someone call a man or boy a cunt.
Interestingly, that's the one sex/hygeiene/genital insult that I find really offensive.
And I have nothing against cunts.

whoops, i meant to say "mundane words DO NOT symbolize."

hmm..interesting that there appears to be fewer curse words engendered to females- especially since some of those words have a twin that can be interchanged at any time:

lesbo-dyke
twat-cunt
whore-slut

a couple left out from the previous list- also engendered:
faggot - M
dickhead - M
(*is it because of our mammalian nature that "tits" is the only sexual body part that cannot be used to describe a person? except if you're sir genius andrew)

again sex (or the primal act of sex) is thematic to most of these words - the component that most mundane words symbolize.

the website Halfbakery.com has several excellent links to various profane website:

Foreign profanity exchange
new curse words

The Alternative Dictionaries
Slang, profanities, insults and vulgarisms from all the world

Maledicta Journal - something of an academic journal of swears
Shakespearean Insult Generator

Keep rockin' in the free world you beslubbering clapper-clawed moldwarp!