Isn't it about time we de-powered this word?
Like all derogatory words or phrases, it's just a collection of completely benign letters arranged in a particular manner. WE give it power by assigning connotations that mean what we want them to mean.
"Cunt" is probably the worst thing you could ever call a woman. Never in my life, not even in jest have I used it like Larry does in the video. Most people will react with absolute horror and rage. You're probably feeling some degree of horror and rage while reading this.
Why is this word so powerful? Why THIS word? It's doesn't even roll off the tongue well. Not nearly as well as "bitch" or even "whore". "Asshole" is permitted on network TV now. So is "bitch". I dunno about "whore". I know you can say "damnit", just not "goddamnit". The "god" part is what they bleep out, which I think is hilarious.
Cunt. Cunt. Cunt. Cunt. Cunt. Cunt.
"I was a cunt hair away from landing that job!"
"Fine, we'll go to McDonald's if you kids are gonna be such cunts about it."
Impossible. You can't imagine anybody ever saying such things.
In Europe, cunt is as commonly said between friends as "bitch" or "asshole". Depending on the relationship, it's all kinda like "dude".
"What happened to you last night, ya cunt? We went with those birds from the pub back to their flat! Apples and pears we were upstairs and Bob's your uncle!"
It bothers me when Americans get so uptight over a word. Like the "N" word. Quentin Tarantino caught a lot of shit from the media about using that word in his movies. He said if a word has that much power, we oughta be shouting it from the rooftops.
So let's not be cunts and grant illusionary power over to a single syllable. It's the intent of the person saying it that matters. And if a guy thinks you're a cunt, he can be just as overtly nasty calling you "madame". It's the intent and the tone that gives it away.
12 comments:
You'll get no argument out of me that it's a shock word, but I've watched all three seasons of Deadwood so the word has no power in and of itself, IMO. And since it's only me, you, Jeff, and snark here, you must be aiming this at me. Why, I wonder.
If you're basing your indignation on this clip, then I'll call bullshit. The outrage isn't about the word cunt, it's about the inappropriateness for the setting Larry's outburst was. Isn't that the show's whole schtick? It's why I don't like it. Anyhow, the others were stunned because apparently, no one in their social circle used that word with regularity, and it seemed unnecessarily harsh for a friendly game of poker.
Now, cunt may be an accepted slang term in other countries, (are you basing this assumption on first-hand experience or the stereotypes portrayed in movies?), but this show is set in the US, right? And it's a just a tv show, right? I suppose that although, to me, Archie Bunker (like Larry Craig) was a loathesome character, he is credited with the starting of conversations that wouldn't have been started otherwise. So there's value in examining bigotry closely.
Humorous aside: Melissa McEwan, proprietor of Shakesville, sometimes goes by the name of Queen Cunt of Fuck Mountain. Seems to me the word has been reclaimed by a person to whom the power of the word matters most, eh?
No, I wasn't aiming it at you! No, it's just a word Jeff and I talked about the other day and I'm surprised by the way the country responds -- not based on the clip. Based on my own hesitation to use it and the reactions of others TO the word.
I just threw the clip in for color.
Just something I had on my mind.
I'm glad people like Melissa are reclaiming it. That's my whole point. A word shouldn't have power. One way to de-power a word is to wear it like a badge, like Melissa. Another is to shout it from the rooftops.
I'm shocked by people in general -- people I come across on a daily basis -- who will flinch when I drop an "f" bomb. Some people really don't like it when I make my sentences fancy.
I love to cuss. I think it adds flavor, color, intonation, and the right amount of emphasis to what I'm saying. And it's what we're all thinking, but we edit ourselves for the circumstances.
And that's just more societal bullshit I'd like to get rid off. I understand it's the way of the world and all that, but I dream of a world where people get the fuck over themselves and we say what we mean to say when we mean to say it.
There's only one thing in the world that offends me, and that's when people tell stories about torturing animals "on the farm" when they were kids. Dude tells me he used to shoot kittens with a .22, I wanna take his fucking head apart.
But I don't get offended by anything else. Not that I'm aware of. South Park offended me once when they did a Steve Irwin joke WAY too soon, but that's their way. Sooner or later, they're gonna find a way to offend you.
You know I love you, coyote. If I was gonna call you a cunt, I'd call you a cunt. I wouldn't write a blog that's secretly aimed at you.
Oh, and the European thing -- that's from some recent secondhand research from people who've spent time there recently. Not from movies.
Oh dear, I didn't think you were calling me a cunt, I thought you were trying to provoke me, as the only woman in the crowd, into arguing that cunt was a bad word! You know how you're always pokin' at feminists and shit? Silly ol' bear.
I am in total agreement about words and power, as least as far as your post here goes. It's a great discussion, I think. No one ever said the c word 20 years ago, it was exclusive to porn and uncouth company. It's come a long way in my lifetime, for good or ill.
I'm shocked and offended. I'm putting this whole post on Shakesville with your name and phone number.
I was gonna vote for McCain until that open mic picked him up telling his wife, "Why don't you put some more makeup on you fucking cunt."
Is there a more crass and horrible word in the English language? I couldn't come up with one.
Someone called Soto a "Fuckin Faggot Traitor" in the comments section of his "Lying Old Man" post.
Wow. That's not very nice.
I like to rip on collectivists and feminists and scads of other "ists", because I tend to get optimistic about the human spirit and human potential and things like that.
Then some retard walks in with "fuckin faggot traitor" and "hope we meet some day" -- that vaguest of vague threats in the intergoogles.
I forget that these people are out there, repeating the talking points they used to get from ol' Grandaddy out at the cabin while they skinned the squirrels for stew.
Ech.
Whaddaya know, he's gone! Blink, blink...
Yeah, so is my attack on him, which was pretty good, I thought.
Cunt is, however, perfectly appropriate in limericks. Let's not lose sight of that please.
I think anything goes with limericks.
I meant to link this last night - MV, you'll love it!
Awesome. There was a video next to it of Howard Stern playing a McSame speech where McSame said, "The credit cunt-- crunch."
And another with him at a town hall meeting where somebody asks, "Did you call your wife a cunt?" People GROANED at the MENTION of the word. And McSame says, "This is a town hall meeting and I think there are people who are offended by that type of language, so I think we'll move on to another question." APPLAUSE!!
Fuck you, McCunt.
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