Open content and Cunt: Difference between pages

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'''Open content''', a [[neologism]] coined by analogy with "[[open source]]", describes any kind of [[creative work]] published in a format that explicitly allows copying and modifying of its information by anyone, not exclusively by a closed organization, firm or individual. The largest open [[Content (media and publishing)|content]] project is [[Wikipedia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abo.psychologie.uni-wuerzburg.de/virtualcollaboration/publications.php?action=view&id=44 |title=Voluntary Engagement in an Open Web-based Encyclopedia: Wikipedians, and Why They Do It |last=Schoer |first=Joachim |coauthors=Hertel, Guido |date=2007-12-03 |publisher[[University of Würzburg]] |format=PHP |accessdate=2007-03-17}}</ref>
{{For|the album by Australian grindcore band Blood Duster|Cunt (album)}}
{{wiktionary}}
'''Cunt''' ([[IPA]]:{{IPA|/kʌnt/}}) is an [[English language]] [[vulgarism]] referring generally to the [[female genitalia]].<ref>[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cunt Wiktionary]</ref> The earliest citation of this usage in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', circa 1230, refers to the [[London]] street known as "[[Gropecunt Lane]]".


"Cunt" is also used informally as a [[derogatory]] [[epithet]] in referring to either sex, but this usage is relatively recent, dating back only as far as the late nineteenth century.<ref name = "Morton">{{cite book |title= The Lover's Tongue: A Merry Romp Through the Language of Love and Sex|last= Morton |first= Mark |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= 2004|publisher= Insomniac Press|location= Toronto, Canada|isbn= 978-1894663519 |pages= }}</ref> The [[Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English|Compact Oxford English Dictionary]] defines "cunt" as "an unpleasant or stupid person", whereas [[Merriam-Webster]] defines the term as "a disparaging term for a woman" and "a woman regarded as a sexual object"; the [[Macquarie Dictionary]] of [[Australian English]] defines it as "a despicable man".
==Technical definition==


The word appears to have been in common usage from the [[Middle Ages]] until the eighteenth century. After a period of disuse, usage became more frequent in the twentieth century and, in particular, in parallel with the rise of popular literature and pervasive media. The term also has various other derived uses and, like "[[fuck]]" and its derivatives, has been used ''[[mutatis mutandis]]'' as noun, pronoun, adjective, [[participle]] and other parts of speech.
Work on a technical definition for open content has been undertaken by the [[Open Knowledge Foundation]]. The Open Knowledge Definition (OKD) gives a set of conditions for openness in knowledge - much as the [[Open Source Definition]] does for [[open-source software]]. Content can be either in the [[public domain]] or under a [[license]] which allows re-distribution and re-use, such as [[Creative Commons]] Attribution and Attribution-Sharealike licenses or the GFDL. It is worth noting that the OKD covers open data as well as open content.


==History==
==Etymology==
Although it has been said that "etymologists are unlikely to come to an agreement about the origins of cunt any time soon",<ref>{{cite book | title = Language Most Foul| last = Wajnryb| first = Ruth| publisher = [[Allen & Unwin]] | year = 2005 | location = Australia| isbn = 174114776X}}</ref> it is most usually stated to derive from a [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] word (Proto-Germanic ''*kunton''), which appeared as ''kunta'' in [[Old Norse]], although the Proto-Germanic form itself is of uncertain origin.<ref>
It is possible that the first documented case of open content was the [[Royal Society]], which aspired to share information across the globe as a public enterprise.{{Fact|date=April 2008}} The term "open content" was first used in the modern context by [[David A. Wiley|David Wiley]], then a graduate student at [[Brigham Young University]], who founded the [[Open Content Project]] and put together the first content-specific (non-software) license in 1998, with input from [[Eric S. Raymond|Eric Raymond]], [[Tim O'Reilly]], and others.{{Fact|date=April 2008}}
{{cite web |url= http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cunt|title= Online Etymological Dictionary|accessdate=2008-03-06 |format= HTML|work= }}</ref> In [[Middle English]] it appeared with many different spellings such as ''cunte'' and ''queynte'', which did not always reflect the actual pronunciation of the word. There are [[cognate]]s in most Germanic languages, such as the [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Faroese language|Faroese]] and [[Old Norwegian]] dialect ''kunta''; [[West Frisian language|West Frisian]] and [[Middle Low German]] ''kunte''; [[Middle Dutch]] conte; [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ''kut''; [[Middle Low German]] kutte; [[Middle High German]] ''kotze'' (prostitute); German ''kott'', and perhaps [[Old English]] ''cot''. While ''kont'' in Dutch refers to the [[buttocks]], ''kut'' is considered far less offensive in Dutch-speaking areas than ''cunt'' is in the English speaking world. The [[etymology]] of the [[Proto-Germanic]] term is disputed. It may have arisen by [[Grimm's law]] operating on the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] [[root (linguistics)|root]] ''*gen/gon'' = "create, become" seen in [[gonads]], [[genital]], [[gamete]], [[genetics]], [[gene]], or the Proto-Indo-European root ''*g<sup>w</sup>neH<sub>2</sub>/guneH<sub>2</sub>'' (Greek ''gunê'') = "[[woman]]" seen in [[gynaecology]]. Relationships to similar-sounding words such as the [[Latin]] ''cunnus'' (vulva), and its derivatives [[French language|French]] ''con'', [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''coño'', and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] ''cona'', have not been conclusively demonstrated. Other Latin words related to ''cunnus'': ''cuneatus'', wedge-shaped; ''cuneo'' v. fasten with a wedge; (figurative) to wedge in, squeeze in, leading to English words such as ''[[cuneiform]]'' (wedge-shaped).


The word for the female genitalia dates back to the Middle English period, c.1325. Its exact origin is unknown, but is related to the Old Norse kunta, a word with cognates in several other Germanic languages. From the [[The Proverbs of Alfred|Proverbs of Hendyng]], a manuscript from sometime before 1325:<ref>{{cite book | last = Unknown | title = An Old English Miscellany Containing a Bestiary, Kentish Sermons... | publisher = Adamant Media Corporation | year = 2001 | location = Delaware| isbn = 0543941167}}</ref>
== Free content ==
{{quote|Ȝeue þi cunte to cunnig and craue affetir wedding.<br />(Give your cunt wisely and make (your) demands after the wedding.)}}
{{main|free content}}
As with [[alternative terms for free software|the terms "open source" and "free software"]], some open content materials can also be described as "[[free content]]", although technically they describe different things. For example, the [[Open Directory Project]] is open content but is not free content. The main difference between licenses is the definition of ''freedom'': some licenses attempt to maximize the freedom of all potential recipients in the future while others maximize the freedom of the initial recipient.


==Offensiveness==
===Common content===
===Generally===
The related term "common content" is occasionally used to refer to [[Creative Commons]]–licensed works. This takes after<!-- ?? --> the [[Common Content]] project, which is an attempt to collect as many such works as possible.
The word "cunt" is generally regarded in English-speaking countries as unusable in normal public discourse and has been described as "the most heavily tabooed word of all English words",<ref>{{cite book |last = Rawson | first = Henry | title = A Dictionary of Invective | year = 1991 | publisher = Robert Hale Ltd | location = London | isbn = 978-0709043997 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/nov/21/broadcasting.uknews | title = TV's most offensive words | date = November 21, 2005 | accessdate = 2008-05-05}}</ref> although John Ayto, editor of the [[Oxford Dictionary of Slang]], has disputed this, saying {{quote|Ethnic slurs are regarded as the taboo ... [[Nigger]] is far more taboo than fuck or even cunt. I think if a politician were to be heard off-camera saying fuck, it would be trivial, but if he said nigger, that would be the end of his career.<ref>{{ cite web | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/nov/21/britishidentity.features11 | title = Expletive deleted | date = November 21, 2002|accessdate = 2008-06-09}}</ref>}} Use of the word is also documented as the [[argot]] of some sections of society<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.gusworld.com.au/nrc/thesis/ch-5.htm | title = "HE'S AN UGLY CUNT, ISN'T HE?": cunt | accessdate = 2008-05-05}}</ref> and in recent years attempts have been made to mitigate its connotations by promoting positive uses.


===Open access===
===Feminist perspectives===
Some radical [[feminist]]s of the 1970s sought to eliminate disparaging terms for women, including "bitch" and "cunt".<ref>{{ cite book | last = Johnston| first = Hank| coauthors= Bert Klandermans|title = Social Movements and Culture | publisher = Routledge| location = | year = 1995| pages = 174 | isbn = 185728500X}}</ref> In the context of pornography, [[Catherine MacKinnon]] argued that use of the word acts to reinforce a dehumanisation of women by reducing them to mere body parts;<ref name = Lacombe>{{cite book | last = Lacombe | first = Dany | title = Blue Politics: Pornography and the Law in the Age of Feminism | year = 1994| publisher = University of Toronto Press| pages = 27 | location = Toronto| isbn = 0802073522}}</ref> and in 1979 [[Andrea Dworkin]] described the word as reducing women to "the one essential - 'cunt: our essence ... our offence'".<ref name = Lacombe/>
"[[Open access]]" refers to a special category of material, consisting of freely available published [[Peer review|peer-reviewed]] journal articles.mm burgers are so yummy and delicious and tasty why dont uyou try some


Despite criticisms, there is a movement within feminists that seeks to [[reclaiming|reclaim]] cunt not only as acceptable, but as an honorific, in much the same way that ''[[queer]]'' has been reclaimed by [[LGBT]] people.<ref>
==Open-content search engines==
{{cite web |url= http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2000/december_2000_1.html|title= Penn State Feminists Stage X-Rated Event on Students' Dime|accessdate=2008-03-06 |format= HTML |work= }}</ref> Proponents include [[Inga Muscio]] in her book, ''[[Cunt: A Declaration of Independence]]''<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ingalagringa.com/cunt/|title= Cunt: A Declaration of Independence|accessdate=2008-03-06 |format= HTML|work= }}</ref> and [[Eve Ensler]] in "Reclaiming Cunt" from ''[[The Vagina Monologues]]''.
{{Expand-section|date=April 2008}}
With the increased interest in open content, many universities have started offering online video/audio courses to the general public, such as [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] and [[Princeton University]]. This has resulted in a great increase in providers of open content. The difficulty of keeping track of all such content had led to the birth of open-content search engines.<ref name="ccsearch">{{cite web |url=http://search.creativecommons.org/ |accessdate=2008-08-09 |publisher=[[Creative Commons]] |title=Creative Commons meta-search engine}}</ref>


The word was similarly reclaimed by [[Angela Carter]] who used it in the title story of ''[[The Bloody Chamber|The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories]]''; a female character describing female genitalia in a pornography book: "her cunt a split fig below the great globes of her buttocks".<ref>{{cite book | last = Carter | first = Angela | authorlink = Angela Carter | title = The Bloody Chamber | publisher = London: Vintage | series = | year = 1979 | doi = | isbn = 0 09 958811 0 }}</ref>
==Licenses==
* [[Creative Commons licenses]] (11 versions)
* [[Design Science License]]
* [[Free Creations License]] (see [http://www.freecreations.org/ freecreations.org])
* [[GNU Free Documentation License]]
* [[Open Content License]]
* [[Open Directory Project License]] — used by the [[Open Directory Project]]
* [[Open Gaming License]] — license of the [[Open Gaming Foundation]], as drafted by [[Wizards of the Coast]]
* [[Open Publication License]] — license of the [[Open Content Project]]


[[Germaine Greer]], who had previously published a magazine article entitled "Lady, Love Your Cunt",<ref>anthologized in Germaine Greer, ''The Madwoman's Underclothes: Essays and Occasional Writings'', (1986)</ref> discussed the origins, usage and power of the word in the [[BBC]] series ''[[Balderdash and Piffle]]''. She suggests at the end of the piece that there is something precious about the word, in that it is now one of the few remaining words in English that still retains its power to shock.<ref>{{cite episode |title= Balderdash & Piffle|episodelink= |series= |serieslink= |credits= |network= [[BBC Three]]|station= |airdate= 2006-02-06|season= |number= |minutes= }}</ref>
== References ==
<references />


==Usage: pre-20th century==
==See also==
''Cunt'' has been in common use in its anatomical meaning since at least the 13th century. While [[Francis Grose]]'s 1785 ''A Classical Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue'' listed the word as "C**T: a nasty name for a nasty thing",<ref>Grose, Francis. ''A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. London 1788 (pages not numbered)]</ref> it did not appear in any major [[dictionary]] of the English language from 1795 to 1961, when it was included in ''[[Webster's Dictionary|Webster's Third New International Dictionary]]'' with the comment "usu. considered obscene". Its first appearance in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' was in 1972, which cites the word as having been in use since 1230 in what was supposedly a current [[London]] street name of "[[Gropecunt Lane|Gropecunte Lane]]." It was however also used before 1230 having been brought over by the [[Anglo-Saxon]]s, originally not an obscenity but rather a factual name for the vulva or vagina. "Gropecunt Lane" was originally a street of prostitution, indicating a [[middle ages]] [[red light district]]. It was normal in those times for streets to be named after the goods available for sale therein, hence the prevalence in cities having a medieval history of names such as "Silver Street", "Fish Street", and "Swinegate" (pork butchers). In some locations, the former name has been [[Thomas Bowdler|Bowdlerised]], as in the City of [[York]], to the more acceptable "Grape Lane".<ref>Baker, N & Holt, R. (2000). "Towards a geography of sexual encounter: prostitution in English medieval towns", in L. Bevan: Indecent Exposure: Sexuality, Society and the Archaeological Record. Cruithne Press: Glasgow, 187-98</ref>
* [[Digital freedom]]

* [[Free content]]
The word appears several times in [[Chaucer|Chaucer's]] ''[[Canterbury Tales]]'' (c. 1390), in [[bawdy]] contexts, but it does not appear to be considered obscene at this point, since it is used openly. A notable use is from the [[The Miller's Prologue and Tale|Miller's Tale]] "Pryvely he caught her by the queynte." The [[Wife of Bath]] also uses this term, "For certeyn, olde dotard, by your leave/You shall have queynte right enough at eve ... What aileth you to grouche thus and groan?/Is it for ye would have my queynte alone?" In modernised versions of these passages the word "queynte" is usually translated simply as "cunt".<ref>[http://www.librarius.com/canttran/wifetale/wifetale330-342.htm From Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales", The Wife of Bath's Prologue, lines 330-342<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.4literature.net/Geoffrey_Chaucer/Wife_of_Bath_s_Prologue/3.html Wife of Bath's Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> However, in Chaucer's usage there seems to be an overlap between the words "cunt" and "quaint" (possibly derived from the [[Latin]] for "known"). "Quaint" was probably pronounced in [[Middle English]] in much the same way as "cunt." It is sometimes unclear whether the two words were thought of as distinct from one another. Elsewhere in Chaucer's work the word ''queynte'' seems to be used with meaning comparable to the modern "quaint" (charming, appealing).
* [[Open source]]

* [[Open Data]]
By [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare's]] day, the word seems to have become obscene. Although Shakespeare does not use the word explicitly (or with derogatory meaning) in his plays, he still plays with it, using [[wordplay]] to sneak it in obliquely. In Act III, Scene 2, of ''[[Hamlet]]'', as the castle's residents are settling in to watch the [[subplot|play-within-the-play]], Hamlet asks [[Ophelia (character)|Ophelia]], "Lady, shall I lie in your lap?" Ophelia, of course, replies, "No, my lord." Hamlet, feigning shock, says, "Do you think I meant ''country matters''?" Then, to drive home the point that the [[accent]] is definitely on the first [[syllable]] of ''country'', Shakespeare has Hamlet say, "That's a fair thought, to lie between maids' legs."<ref>Partridge, Eric, ''Shakespeare's Bawdy'', Routledge, London, 2001, p.111</ref> Also see ''[[Twelfth Night (play)|Twelfth Night]]'' (Act II, Scene V): "There be her very Cs, her Us, and her Ts: and thus makes she her great Ps." A related scene occurs in ''Henry V'': when Katherine is learning English, she is appalled at the "''gros et impudique''" English words "[[foot]]" and "[[gown]]," which her English teacher has mispronounced as "''coun''." It has been suggested that Shakespeare intends to suggest that she has misheard "foot" as "''foutre''" (French, "[[fuck]]") and "coun" as "''con''" (French "cunt", also used to mean "idiot").<ref>Partridge, Eric, ''Shakespeare's Bawdy'', Routledge, London, 2001, p.110</ref> Similarly [[John Donne]] alludes to the obscene meaning of the word without being explicit in his poem ''The Good-Morrow'', referring to sucking on "country pleasures".

The 1675 [[Restoration comedy]] ''[[The Country Wife]]'' also features such wordplay, even in its title.

By the 17th century a softer form of the word, "cunny", came into use. A well known use of this derivation can be found in the 25 October 1668 entry of the diary of [[Samuel Pepys]]. He was discovered having an affair with Deborah Willet: he wrote that his wife "coming up suddenly, did find me imbracing the girl con my hand sub su coats; and endeed I was with my main in her cunny. I was at a wonderful loss upon it and the girl also....".<ref>Abbot, Mary, ''Life Cycles in England, 1560-1720: Cradle to Grave'', Routledge, 1996, p.201</ref>

''Cunny'' was probably derived from a pun on ''[[coney]]'', meaning "[[rabbit]]", rather as ''pussy'' is connected to the same term for a [[cat]]. ([[Philip Massinger]]: "A pox upon your Christian [[cockatrices]]! They cry, like poulterers' wives, 'No money, no coney.'")<ref>Ship, Joseph Twadell, ''The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots'', JHU Press, 1984, p.129</ref> Largely because of this usage, the word ''coney'' to refer to rabbits changed [[pronunciation]] from short "o" (like ''money'' and ''honey'') to long "o" (''cone'', as in [[Coney Island]]), and has now almost completely disappeared from most [[dialects]] of English; in the same way the word "pussy" is now rarely used in America to refer to a cat.

[[Robert Burns]] used the word in his ''Merry Muses of Caledonia'', a collection of bawdy verses which he kept to himself and were not publicly available until the mid-1960s.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.robertburns.org.uk/merrymuses.htm | title= Merry Muses of Caledonia by Robert Burns | accessdate=2008-03-06 |format = HMTL}}</ref> In "Yon, Yon, Yon, Lassie", this couplet appears: "For ilka birss upon her cunt, Was worth a ryal ransom".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.robertburns.org.uk/Assets/Documents/merrymuses.PDF | title= Merry Muses of Caledonia by Robert Burns | accessdate=2008-03-06 |format = PDF}}</ref>

==Usage: modern==
====In modern literature====
[[James Joyce]] was one of the first of the major 20th-century novelists to put the word "cunt" into print. In the context of one of the central characters in ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'', [[Leopold Bloom]], Joyce refers to the [[Dead Sea]] and to {{quote|... the oldest people. Wandered far away over all the earth, captivity to captivity, multiplying, dying, being born everywhere. It lay there now. Now it could bear no more. Dead: an old woman's: the grey sunken cunt of the world.<ref>[http://www.themodernword.com/joyce/joyce_paper_conley.html Commentary on Joyce]</ref>}}
Joyce uses the word figuratively rather than literally; but while Joyce used the word only once in ''Ulysses'', with four other wordplays ('cunty') on it, [[D. H. Lawrence]] used the word ten times in ''[[Lady Chatterley's Lover]]'', in a more direct sense.<ref> [http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1819727,00.html Review of "Lady Chatterley"]</ref> Mellors, the gamekeeper and eponymous lover, tries delicately to explain the definition of the word to Lady Constance Chatterley: {{quote|If your sister there comes ter me for a bit o' cunt an' tenderness, she knows what she's after.}} The novel was the subject of an unsuccessful [[UK]] prosecution for [[obscenity]] in 1961 against its publishers, [[Penguin Books]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,,367917,00.html|title= Cock-up and cover-up|accessdate=2008-03-06 |format= HTML|work= }}</ref>
* [[Henry Miller]]'s novel ''[[Tropic of Cancer (novel)|Tropic of Cancer]]'' uses the word extensively, ensuring its banning in [[United Kingdom|Britain]] between 1934 and 1961<ref>{{cite web | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZKsZfSSDuEgC&dq=%22henry+miller%22+%22tropic+of+cancer%22+cunt&pg=PP1&ots=MQ_86i72ZW&sig=MNoeB6EDcdl4F7SUrvT9_P3RvzU&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22Henry+Miller%22+%22Tropic+of+Cancer%22+cunt&btnG=Google+Search&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail | title = Tropic of cancer| accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref> and being the subject of the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] decision in ''Grove Press, Inc. v. Gerstein'', {{ussc|378|577|1964}}.
* [[Samuel Beckett]] was an associate of [[James Joyce|Joyce]], and in his [[Malone Dies]] (1956), he writes: "His young wife had abandoned all hope of bringing him to heel, by means of her cunt, that trump card of young wives."<ref>{{cite book | title = Women in Beckett | year = 1990 | isbn = 0252062566 | publisher = University of Illinois | last = Ben-Zvi | first = Linda }}</ref>
* In [[Ian McEwan]]'s 2001 novel ''[[Atonement (novel)|Atonement]]'', the word is used in a love letter mistakenly sent instead of a revised version, and although not spoken, is an important plot pivot.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.yalereviewofbooks.com/archive/spring02/review15.shtml.htm|title= Ian McEwan's Fictional Act of Atonement.|accessdate=2008-03-06 |format= HTML|work= }}</ref>

===Usage by Meaning===
====Referring to women====
In referring to a woman, ''cunt'' is an abusive term usually considered the most offensive word in that context and even more forceful than ''[[bitch]]''.<ref>e.g. [[Germaine Greer]] writes "Part of the modesty about the female genitalia stems from actual distaste. The worst name anyone can be called is cunt." {{cite book| title = [[The Female Eunuch]] | year = 1995| last = Greer | first = Germaine | publisher = Panther & Harper Collins | location = London | isbn = 978-0586054062 | pages = 39}}</ref> In the film ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)|One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'', the central character McMurphy, when pressed to explain exactly why he doesn't like the tyrannical Nurse Ratched, says, "she's something of a cunt, ain't she, Doc?"<ref>[http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/o/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-script.html Script]</ref> It can also be used to imply that the sexual act is the primary function of a woman; for example, see [[#Film|below]] in relation to ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]''.

In 2004, [[University of Colorado at Boulder|University of Colorado]] president [[Elizabeth Hoffman (professor)|Elizabeth Hoffman]] fanned the flames of a [[American football|football]] rape case when, during a deposition, she was asked if she thought "cunt" was a "filthy and vile" word. She replied that it was a "swear word" but she had "actually heard it used as a term of endearment".<ref>[http://www.coloradodaily.com/articles/2004/06/16/news/news01.txt News Report]</ref> A spokesperson later clarified that Hoffman meant the word had polite meanings in its original use centuries ago. In the rape case, a CU football player had allegedly called female player [[Katie Hnida]] a "fucking lovely cunt".

Similarly, during the [[UK]] [[Oz (magazine)|Oz]] [[Oz (magazine)#UK obscenity trials|trial]] for obscenity in 1971, prosecuting [[barrister|counsel]] asked writer [[George Melly]] "Would you call your 10-year-old daughter a cunt?" Melly replied "No, because I don't think she is."<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2003/feb/02/broadcasting.comment | title = It's enough to make you cuss and blind | accessdate = 2008-03-23}}</ref>

====Referring to men====
[[Frederic Manning]]'s 1929 book ''[[Frederic Manning#The Middle Parts of Fortune|The Middle Parts of Fortune]]'', set in [[World War I]], is a [[vernacular]] account of the lives of ordinary soldiers and describes regular use of the word by British [[Tommies]]. The word is invariably used to describe men:{{quote|And now the bastard's wearin' the bes' pair slung round ‘is own bloody neck. Wouldn't you've thought the cunt would ‘a' give me vingt frong for ‘em anyway?

What's the cunt want to come down 'ere buggering us about for, 'aven't we done enough bloody work in th' week?<ref>{{cite book
| last = Manning
| first = Frederic
| authorlink = Frederic Manning
| title = The Middle Parts Of Fortune Somme And Ancre 1916
| publisher = Kessinger Publishing
| series =
| year = 2004
| doi =
| isbn = 978-1419172748}}</ref>}}
Whilst normally derogatory in English-speaking countries, the word has an informal use, even being used as a term of endearment. Like the word ''[[fuck]]'', use between youths is not uncommon, as exemplified by its use in the film ''[[Trainspotting (film)|Trainspotting]]'', where it is an integral part of the common language of the principal characters.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117951/quotes | title = Memorable quotes for Trainspotting (1996) | accessdate = 2008-03-22 }}</ref>

====Referring to inanimate objects====
''Cunt'' is used extensively in Australia, Ireland and also in some parts of the UK as a replacement [[noun]], more commonly among males and the working classes, similar to the use of ''[[motherfucker]]'' or ''son of a bitch'' among some Americans in extremely casual settings. For instance, "The cunt of a thing won't start," in reference to an [[automobile]]; or "Pass me that cunt," meaning "Pass me that item I need"; or "Those cunts down the road," referring to people in the vicinity. When used in this sense, the word does not necessarily imply contempt nor is it necessarily intended to be offensive.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

====Other uses====
The word is sometimes used as a general [[expletive]] to show frustration, annoyance or anger, for example "I've had a cunt of a day!", "This is a cunt to finish".

Australians have a habit of pairing the word with another to give a more specific meaning such as cunt-rash (visible disorder of the female genitalia, again normally a general insult). The phrase "sick cunt" is sometimes used as a compliment by such sub-groups as Australian [[surfer]]s, although the term originated within non-[[Australian]] groups who combined their use of the term "sick" with what they saw as a typically Aussie expletive.{{Fact|date=June 2008}}

A modern derivative [[adjective]], ''cuntish'' (alternatively, ''cuntacious''), meaning frustrating, awkward, or (when describing behavior) selfish, is increasingly used in England and has begun to appear in other regions, such as Scotland and Ireland.{{Fact|date=June 2008}}

''Cunting'' is routinely used as an [[Adverbial phrase|intensifying modifier]], much like ''fucking''. It can also be used as a slang term for criticism as in "Did you see the cunting he got for saying that?"

The word ''cunty'' is also known, although used rarely: a line from [[Hanif Kureishi]]'s ''[[My Beautiful Laundrette]]'' is the definition of [[England]] by a [[Pakistan]]i immigrant as "eating hot buttered toast with cunty fingers," suggestive of hypocrisy and a hidden sordidness or [[immorality]] behind the country's quaint [[façade]]. This term is attributed to British novelist [[Henry Green]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.theparisreview.org/media/GREEN.pdf#search=%22cunty%20fingers%22|title= The Art Of Fiction No. 22 - Henry Green|accessdate=2008-03-06 |format= PDF|work= }}</ref>

''Cunted'' can mean to be extremely under the influence of drink and/or drugs.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cunted | title = cunted| accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref>

===Usage in modern popular culture===
====Theatre====
Theatre censorship was effectively abolished in the UK in 1968; prior to that all theatrical productions had to be pre-vetted by the [[Lord Chamberlain]]; this relaxation made possible [[UK]] productions such as "[[Hair (musical)|Hair (The Musical)]]" and "[[Oh! Calcutta!]]". But "cunt" was not uttered on a British stage for some years.<ref name = "Chubby">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/tees/weareteesside/halloffame/chubbyinterview.shtml Tees Stage - Interview with Chubby Brown]</ref>

====Television====
Broadcast media, by definition, reach wide audiences and thus are regulated externally for content.
To minimise not only public criticism but also regulatory sanctions, policies have been developed by media providers as to how "cunt" and similar words should be treated.<ref>BBC. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/advice/offensivelanguage/ Editorial Guidelines - Offensive Language]</ref> In a survey of 2000 commissioned by the British [[Ofcom|Broadcasting Standards Commission]], [[Independent Television Commission]], BBC and [[Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)|Advertising Standards Authority]], "cunt" was regarded as the most offensive word which could be heard, above "[[motherfucker]]" and "[[fuck]]".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.asa.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/1EAEACA7-8322-4C86-AAC2-4261551F57FE/0/ASA_Delete_Expletives_Dec_2000.pdf#search=%22%22delete%20expletives%22%22 | title = "Delete Expletives" | accessdate = 2004-04-02 | format = PDF}}</ref> Nevertheless, there have been occasions when, particularly in a live broadcast, the word has been aired outside editorial control:
* ''[[David Frost|The Frost Programme]]'', broadcast live on November 7, 1970: The first time the word was known to have been used on British television, by [[Felix Dennis]], in an affectionate reference rather than offensively. This incident has since been reshown many times.<ref name="Indy">{{cite web |url= http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-c-word-524059.html|title= The C word|accessdate=2008-03-06 |format= HTML|work= }}</ref>
* [[Bernard Manning]] first said on television the line "They say you are what you eat. I'm a cunt."<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970201/ai_n14088564/pg_2|title= Books: A blast of Jacobson's Organ|accessdate=2008-03-06 |format= HTML|work= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1541264,00.html|title= No laughing matter|accessdate=2008-03-06 |format= HTML|work= }}</ref>
* ''[[This Morning (TV series)|This Morning]]'' broadcast the word in 2000, used by the [[model (person)|model]] [[Caprice Bourret]] while being interviewed live about her role in ''[[The Vagina Monologues]]''<ref>{{cite web |archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20020214201246/http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=114876 |url= http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=114876 |archivedate=2002-02-14 |title=Caprice accidentally breaks the last linguistic taboo on television |accessdate=2008-03-06 }}</ref>
However "cunt" has crossed over from accidental to purposeful use:
* The first scripted use of the word in the [[United Kingdom]] was in the [[ITV]] drama "No Mama No", broadcast in 1979.<ref name = "Indy"/>
* ''[[Jerry Springer - The Opera]]'' was shown by the [[BBC]] in January 2005. The performance included the phrase "cunting, cunting, cunting, cunting cunt" (a description of the Devil). However, more controversy was generated by the [[Christ]] saying that he "Might be 'a bit gay'" than by the use of "cunt".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/jan/09/broadcasting.religion|title = F*** you, says BBC as 50,000 rage at Spr*ng*r |accessdate=2008-03-06 }}</ref>
* In July 2007 [[BBC Three]] dedicated a full hour to the word in a detailed documentary ("The 'C' Word") about the origins, use and evolution of the word from the early 1900s to the present day. Presented by British comedian [[Will Smith (comedian)|Will Smith]], viewers were taken to a street in [[Oxford]] once called 'Gropecunt Lane' and presented with examples of the acceptability of "cunt" as a word.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007sj0x|title= The C Word: How We Came to Swear By It|accessdate=2008-03-06 }}</ref>
In the [[US]] the broadcast use of "cunt" is still rare; nevertheless, the word has slowly infiltrated into broadcasting:
* The [[HBO]] TV shows ''[[Oz (TV series)|Oz]]'', ''[[Sex and the City]]'', ''[[The Sopranos]]'', ''[[Deadwood (TV series)|Deadwood]]'', and ''[[The Wire (TV series)|The Wire]]'', as well as the [[Showtime]] series ''[[Weeds]]'', ''[[Californication (TV series)|Californication]]'' & ''[[Brotherhood (Showtime)|Brotherhood]]'' also make frequent use of the word; and two episodes of the sitcom ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]''<ref>"Beloved Aunt" and "The Shrimp Incident"</ref> are devoted to the comical repercussions of its inadvertent use.
* Another HBO program ''[[Lucky Louie]]'' featured an episode, "[[List of Lucky Louie episodes|Flowers for Kim]]", revolving around Louie ruining his entire weekend by calling his wife a cunt.
* Similarly, [[Jane Fonda]] uttered the word on a live airing of the ''[[Today (NBC program)|Today Show]]'' in 2008 when speaking about the Vagina Monologues.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/15/fonda_slip/|title=Jane Fonda c-word slip shocks US |accessdate=2008-03-06 }}</ref>

====Film====
<!-- Additions here will need verifiable sources to avoid [[WP:OR|original research]] problems-->
The word has few, if any, recorded uses in mainstream cinema prior to the 1970s, the first known being in ''[[Carnal Knowledge (film)|Carnal Knowledge]]'' (1971) in which Jonathan ([[Jack Nicholson]]) asks ''"Is this an ultimatum? Answer me, you ball-busting, castrating, son of a cunt bitch! Is this an ultimatum or not?"''<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066892/quotes | title = Memorable quotes for Carnal Knowledge (1971) | accessdate = 2003-03-16}}</ref> Its subsequent use was limited for a while to films [[Film rating#Restricted|restricted]] to adult audiences, such as ''[[The Exorcist (film)|The Exorcist]]'' (1973) in which Burke Dennings ([[Jack MacGowran]]) addresses the butler, Karl (Rudolf Schündler): ''"Cunting [[Germany|Hun]]! Bloody damn butchering Nazi pig!"''<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070047/quotes The Exorcist]</ref> and ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' (1976) in which Travis Bickle ([[Robert de Niro]]) describes himself as ''"A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is a man who stood up."''<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/quotes Taxi Driver]</ref><ref>Emmanuel Levy: Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film Page 118 - NYU Press, 1999; ISBN 0814751245</ref><br />
''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'' (1977) was released in two versions, 'R' (Restricted) and 'PG' (Parental Guidance), the latter omitting or replacing dialogue such as Tony Manero ([[John Travolta]])'s comment to Annette ([[Donna Pescow]]) ''"It's a decision a girl's gotta make early in life, if she's gonna be a nice girl or a cunt."''<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076666/quotes Saturday Night Fever]</ref> This differential persists, and in ''[[The Silence of the Lambs (film)|The Silence of the Lambs]]'' (1991), [[Clarice Starling|Agent Starling]] ([[Jodie Foster]]) meets [[Dr. Hannibal Lecter]] ([[Anthony Hopkins]]) for the first time and passes the cell of "Multiple Miggs", who says to Starling: ''"I can smell your cunt."'' In versions of the film edited for television the word is dubbed with the word [[scent]].<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102926/quotes Silence of the Lambs]</ref><br />
<!-- In view of the now-entrenched use of this word in movies, it is recommended that any further additions to this chronological list be the subject of restraint, i.e. ask yourself "What makes this use of the word NOTABLE?". NN and unreferenced uses will be removed with extreme prejudice -->
More recently, use of the word "cunt" in film is still capable of generating controversy; in 2002 [[Ken Loach]]'s film ''[[Sweet Sixteen (2002 film)|Sweet Sixteen]]'' was given an "18" rating by the [[British Board of Film Classification]], ensuring that young people of the age depicted in the film were unable to view it legally. This rating was imposed because of the language used, with an estimated twenty uses of "cunt".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://film.guardian.co.uk/censorship/news/0,,804490,00.html | title= Loach tells sweet sixteens to ignore BBFC | accessdate = 2008-03-06 |format= |work= }}</ref>

====Comedy====
In their [[Derek and Clive]] dialogues, [[Peter Cook]] and [[Dudley Moore]], particularly Cook, arguably made the word more accessible in the [[UK]]; in the 1976 sketch "This Bloke Came Up To Me", "cunt" is used over thirty times.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.phespirit.info/derekandclive/live_02.htm | title = Derek & Clive - "This Bloke Came Up To Me" | accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref> The word is also used extensively by [[United Kingdom|British]] comedian [[Roy 'Chubby' Brown]], which ensures that his [[Stand-up comedy|stand-up]] act has never been fully shown on [[UK]] television.<ref name = "Chubby"/> Australian comedic singer [[Kevin Bloody Wilson]] makes extensive use of the word, most notably in the songs ''Caring Understanding Nineties Type'' and ''You Can't Say "Cunt" in Canada''.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.ozmusic-central.com.au/oztabs/uvw/wilson_kevinbloody/Caring%20Understanding%20Nineties%20Type.txt | title = Caring Understanding Nineties Type | accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref> The word appears on [[George Carlin]]'s list of the [[seven dirty words]].

====Popular music====
In 1977, during a concert at [[New York]]'s [[Bottom Line]], [[Carlene Carter]] introduced a song by stating, "If this song don't put the cunt back in [[Country music|country]], I don't know what will." The comment was quoted widely in the press, and Carter spent much of the next decade trying to live the comment down.<ref>{{cite book |author=Chapman, Marshall |title=Goodbye, little rock and roller |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |year=2003 |pages= |isbn=0-312-31568-6 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> However use of the word in lyrics is not recorded before the [[punk rock]] band [[Sex Pistols]]' 1978 version of ''[[My Way (song)|My Way]]'', which marked the first known use of the word in a [[UK]] Top Ten hit, as a line was changed to "You cunt/I'm not a queer".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/ttremastered/story/0,,2127431,00.html | title = The OMM top 50 covers | accessdate = 2008-03-16}}</ref> The following year, "cunt" was used more explicitly in the song "Why D'Ya Do It? from [[Marianne Faithfull]]'s album [[Broken English (album)|Broken English]]: {{quote|Why'd ya do it, she screamed, after all we've said,<br />
Every time I see your dick I see her cunt in my bed.<ref>{{cite news |first= Simon|last= Price|authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Arts Etc: Rock & Pop - Faithfull: foul-mouthed and fabulous |url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20020317/ai_n12601024 |work= [[The Independent]]|publisher= |date= 2002-03-17 |accessdate=2008-04-23 }}</ref>}}

Since then, the word has been used by numerous non-mainstream bands, such as Australian band [[TISM]], who released an [[EP]] in 1993 ''"[[Australia the Lucky Cunt]]"'', and a single in 1998 entitled ''"[[I Might Be a Cunt, but I'm Not a Fucking Cunt]]"'', which was banned. The American [[grindcore]] band [[Anal Cunt]], on being signed to a bigger label, shortened their name to AxCx.

[[Big Pun]] is a [[rapper]] who has used the word, referring to the vagina, in the song "I'm Not a Player" from his 1998 debut album ''[[Capital Punishment (album)|Capital Punishment]]''. He says in a line "Excuse me for bein' blunt, but I've been eatin' cunts".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.bigpunforever.com/imnotaplayer.html | title = I'm Not a Player | accessdate = 2008-06-26}}</ref>

[[Eminem]] is another rapper who uses the word, in his songs "Brain Damage" from his 1999 album ''[[The Slim Shady LP]]'' and "Who Knew" from his 2000 album ''[[The Marshall Mathers LP]]''.

====Computer/Video Games====
In the 2004 title ''[[The Getaway: Black Monday]]'' by [[SCEE]] was the first videogame to use the word.{{Fact|date=October 2008}} It is used several time during the game.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418705/quotes The Getaway: Black Monday]</ref>

In the 2008 title ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' by [[Rockstar North]] and distributed by [[Take Two Interactive]], available on the [[PlayStation 3]] and [[Xbox 360]] consoles, the word, amongst many other expletives, was used by at least one in-game character as a general expletive towards another in-game character or characters.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2007/03/FF_160_rockstar?currentPage=all | title = The Road to Ruin: How Grand Theft Auto Hit the Skids | date = March 29, 2007 | accessdate = 2008-06-17}}</ref>

==Linguistic variants and derivatives==
Various [[euphemism]]s, [[minced oath|minced]] forms and [[in-joke]]s are used to imply the word without actually saying it, thereby escaping obvious censure and censorship.

===Spoonerisms and acronyms===
Deriving from a dirty joke: "What's the difference between a circus and a strip club?"- "The circus has a bunch of cunning stunts...",<ref>{{cite journal |last= Dundes|first= Alan|authorlink= |coauthors= Georges, Robert A.|year= 1962|month= September|title= Some Minor Genres of Obscene Folklore |journal= The Journal of American Folklore|volume= 75|issue= 297|pages= 221–226|id= |url= |accessdate= 2008-03-18|quote=|doi= 10.2307/537724 }}</ref> the phrase ''cunning stunt'' has been used in popular music. Its first documented appearance was by the English band [[Caravan (band)|Caravan]] who released the album ''[[Cunning Stunts (Caravan album)|Cunning Stunts]]'' in July 1975;<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.caravan-info.co.uk/backcatalogue/ | title = Caravan Information Service | accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref> the title was later used by [[Metallica]] for a [[Cunning Stunts (Metallica)|CD/Video compilation]], and in 1992 [[the Cows]] released an [[Cunning Stunts (album)|album]] with the same title. In his 1980s [[BBC]] television programme, [[Kenny Everett]] played a vapid starlet, ''Cupid Stunt'',<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/kennyeverett/gallery/09.shtml | title = Classic TV - The Kenny Everett Television Show - Gallery | accessdate = 2008-03-16}}</ref> and more recently comedian [[Al Murray]] has hosted a British television comedy [[game show]], [[Fact Hunt]].<ref>{{ cite web | url = http://paramountcomedy.com/comedy/news/article.aspx?id=245 | title = Al Murray To Be Pub Quiz Master | accessdate = 2008-03-16}}</ref>

There are numerous informal acronyms, including various apocryphal stories concerning academic establishments, such as the ''Cambridge University National Trust Society''.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://standanddeliver.blogs.com/dombo/bill_oddie/index.html | title=My Chat with Graeme Garden, Full Blown | accessdate = 2008-03-18}}</ref>

See also ''[[See you next Tuesday]]''

===Puns===
The name [[Mike Hunt]] is a frequent substitute for the unspeakable; it has been used in a scene from the movie ''[[Porky's]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084522/quotes | title = Porky's (1982) | accessdate = 2008-03-18}}</ref> for a character in the [[BBC]] radio comedy [[Radio Active]].<ref>{{ cite web | url = http://www.britishcomedy.org.uk/comedy/radioactive.htm | title = RADIO ACTIVE | Accessdate = 2008-030-18 }}</ref> and in the title of a 2004 exhibition at the [[British Library]], "Has Anyone Seen Mike Hunt?"<ref name = Pretorius>{{ cite web | title = Etymology Of Cunt | url = http://www.tanyapretorius.co.za/content/infoholism/etymology/etymology%20cunt.htm| accessdate = 2004-04-23 }}</ref>
Apart from more directly obvious references, [[Stephen Fry]] famously defined ''countryside'' on ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'' as the act of 'murdering [[Piers Morgan]]' <ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/des-kelly-my-life-in-media-519169.html | title = Des Kelly - My Life in Media | accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref> and in ''[[Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps]]'', Donna and Gaz are perusing erotic novels when they come across ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]''. However, Gaz helpfully informs Donna that 'it doesn't say Count'.<ref>{{cite episode |title= Mate Date|episodelink= |series= Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps|serieslink= |credits= |network= BBC |station= BBC3|airdate= 2004-03-21 |season= 4 |number= 6|minutes= }}</ref> Similarly, in an episode of ''[[Spaced]]'', Sophie tells Tim that she can't see him as there's been a misprint on the title of one of the magazines she works on - ''Total Cult''.<ref>{{cite episode |title= Gone|episodelink= |series= Spaced|serieslink= |credits= |network= Channel 4|station= |airdate= 2001-03-30 |season= 2 |number= 5|minutes= }}</ref> In all these uses, the audience are left to make the connection.

Even Parliaments are not immune from punning uses; as recalled by former [[Australian]] prime minister [[Gough Whitlam]]:
{{quote|Never in the House did I use the word which comes to mind. The nearest I came to doing so was when [[Sir Winton Turnbull]], a member of the cavalleria rusticana, was raving and ranting on the adjournment and shouted: "I am a [[Country Party of Australia|Country]] member". I interjected "I remember". He could not understand why, for the first time in all the years he had been speaking in the House, there was instant and loud applause from both sides.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://whitlamdismissal.com/speeches/00-05-24_politicians-humour-debate.shtml | title = That Politicians Have Lost Their Sense Of Humour | accessdate = 2008-03-18}}</ref>}}and [[Mark Lamarr]] used a variation of this same gag on BBC TV's ''[[Never Mind the Buzzcocks]]''. "[[Stuart Adamson]] was a [[Big Country]] member... and we do remember".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115286/quotes | title = Never Mind the Buzzcocks (1996) | accessdate = 2008-03-18}}</ref>

===Rhyming slang===
Several celebrities have had their names used as euphemisms, including footballer [[Roger Hunt]],<ref name = Partridge>{{cite book | last = Partridge |first = Eric| coauthor = Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor | title = The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English | publisher = Taylor & Francis | location = New York| year = 2006 |isbn = 041525938X }}</ref> actor [[Gareth Hunt]],<ref>[http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/g.htm A dictionary of slang - "G" - Slang and colloquialisms of the UK.]</ref><ref>[http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/gareth_hunt Gareth Hunt is [[Cockney Rhyming Slang]] for ...]</ref><ref>Anonymous ''Dirty Cockney Rhyming Slang'' Michael O'Mara Books Ltd. ISBN 1-84317-035-3</ref> singer [[James Blunt]],<ref name = Pretorius/> and 1970s motor-racing driver [[James Hunt]], whose name was once used to introduce the radio show [[I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue]] as "the show that is to panel games what James Hunt is to rhyming slang".<ref name = Pretorius/>

A canting form of some antiquity is ''berk'', short for "[[Berkeley Hunt]]" or "Berkshire Hunt",<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/berk | title = Berk - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary | accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.everything2.org/index.pl?node_id=99938 | title = Cockney rhyming slang@Everything2.com | accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref> and in a [[Monty Python]] sketch, an [[idioglossia]]c man replaces the initial "c" of words with "b", producing ''silly bunt''. Scottish comedian [[Chic Murray]] claimed to have worked for a firm called "Lunt, Hunt & Cunningham".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/tvheroes/haldaneduncan/chic_murray_remembered.php | title = TV Heroes: Part 09: Chic Murray Remembered | accessdate = 2008-04-23}}</ref>

==Other meanings==
The word "cunt" forms part of some technical terms used in seafaring and other industries.

===Nautical usage===
[[Image:CuntSplice.gif|thumb|right|Unfinished ''cunt splice'']]
A '''cunt splice''' is a type of [[Rope splicing|rope splice]] used to join two lines in the [[rigging]] of ships. The two ends are side spliced together with a gap between the two parts, forming a short section where the two lines lay side-by-side when taut.<ref name="falconers">William Falconer, ''[http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-refs-falc-1243 An Universal Dictionary of the Marine]'' (London: Thomas Cadell, 1780), 1243.</ref> In recent times its name has been [[Thomas Bowdler|bowdlerised]] to "cut splice".

The ''Dictionary of Sea Terms'', found within [[Richard Henry Dana, Jr.|Dana's]] 1841 maritime [[compendium]] ''The Seaman's Friend'', defines the word '''cuntline''' as "the space between the bilges of two casks, stowed side by side. Where one cask is set upon the cuntline between two others, they are stowed ''bilge and cuntline''."<ref name="seamans">Richard Henry Dana, Jr., ''[http://www.hmssurprise.org/Resources/DanaSFLex.html The Seaman's Friend: A Treatise on Practical Seamanship, 14th Edition]'' (Boston: Thomas Groom & Co., 1879; Dover Republication 1997), 104.</ref> The "bilge" of a barrel or cask is the widest point, so when stored together the two casks would produce a curved V-shaped gap.

The glossary of ''[[The Ashley Book of Knots]]'' by [[Clifford Ashley|Clifford W. Ashley]], first published in 1944, defines '''cuntlines''' as "the surface seams between the strands of a rope."<ref name="ashley598">Clifford W. Ashley, ''The Ashley Book of Knots'' (New York: Doubleday, 1944), 598.</ref> Though referring to a different object than Dana's definition, it similarly describes the crease formed by two abutting cylinders.<ref name="ashleynote">Examples of Ashley's usage of "cuntline" are found in the descriptions for illustrations #3338 and #3351.</ref>

===US military usage===
U.S. military personnel refer privately to a common uniform item, a flat, soft cover (hat) with a fold along the top resembling an invagination, as a '''cunt cap'''.<ref name = Dickson>{{cite book |title= War Slang: American Fighting Words and Phrases Since the Civil War|last= Dickson|first= Paul|authorlink= |coauthors= |year= 2004|publisher= Brassey's|location= Dulles, VA|isbn= 978-1574887105|pages= 145}}</ref> The proper name for the item is [[garrison cap]] or overseas cap, depending on the organization in which it is worn.

===Hot-metal printing===
In the traditional hot-metal printing industry, a '''cunt lead''' was a term that was formerly used to describe a small additional inter-line gap, usually of less than 1[[Point (typography)|pt]]. The term is derived from the term [[leading]] which describes more generally inter-line gaps (from the strips of lead that were used to provide the separations).

===Others===
* '''Cunt hair''' (sometimes as '''red cunt hair''')<ref name = Dickson/> has been used since the late 1950s to signify a very small distance.<ref name = "Morton"/>
* '''Cunt-eyed''' has been used to refer to a person suffering from [[strabismus|a squint]].<ref name = "Morton"/>

==Notes and references==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* [http://www.tanyapretorius.co.za/content/infoholism/etymology/etymology%20cunt.htm Detailed etymology]
* ''[[Cunt: A Declaration of Independence]]'', a 1998 book by [[Inga Muscio]]
* ''[[Cunt (novel)|Cunt]]'', a 1999 novel by [[Stewart Home]]
* ''Lady Love Your Cunt'', 1969 article by [[Germaine Greer]] (see ''References'' above)


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.takeourword.com/pt.html The Etymology of Sexual Slang Terms]
{{commonscat|Open content}}
* [http://www.matthewhunt.com/cunt/index.html Cunt: A Cultural History]
* [http://www.iosn.net/open-content/foss-open-content-primer/foss-opencontent.pdf IOSN Open Content e-Primer] — from their [http://www.iosn.net/foss-primers FOSS e-Primers Section]
* [http://turre.com/images/stories/books/webkirja_koko_optimoitu2.pdf "Community Created Content; Law, Business and Policy," by Hietanen, Oksanen and Välimäki]
* [http://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/mdr/research/lliang/open_content_guide "A Guide To Open Content Licences," by Lawrence Liang]
* [http://www.creativecommons.org Creative Commons] — the open content idea and creative works
* [http://www.ibiblio.org ibiblio] — the open content idea as a library, from a project by UNC–Chapel Hill
* [http://lwn.net/Articles/181374/ Learning the lesson: open content licensing] — history of open content from [[Linux Weekly News]]
* [http://info.lib.uh.edu/cwb/oab.pdf ''Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals'']
* [http://opendefinition.org/ Open Knowledge Definition: Defining the Open in Open Data, Open Content and Open Information] — set of principles from [http://www.okfn.org/ the Open Knowledge Foundation]
===Major open content repositories and directories===
* [http://ocwconsortium.org/ OpenCourseWare Consortium] — portal linking to free and openly licensed course materials from hundreds of universities worldwide
* [http://ocw.mit.edu MIT OpenCourseWare] — free and openly licensed course materials from more than 1,800 MIT courses
* [http://cnx.org Connexions] — global open-content repository started by Rice University
* [http://www.oercommons.org OER Commons] — network of open teaching and learning materials, with ratings and reviews
* [http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Open_Source/Open_Content/ Google Directory – Open Content]
* [http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn OpenLearn] — free and open educational resources from The Open University
* [http://ckan.net/ Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN)] — directory/registry of open data/content packages and projects
* [http://opentraining.unesco-ci.org UNESCO Open Training Platform] — network for international development issues


[[Category:Open content| ]]
[[Category:Pejorative terms for people]]
[[Category:Digital art]]
[[Category:Profanity]]
[[Category:Copyright licenses]]
[[Category:Sexual slang]]
[[Category:Open source licenses]]


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Revision as of 22:22, 10 October 2008

Cunt (IPA:/kʌnt/) is an English language vulgarism referring generally to the female genitalia.[1] The earliest citation of this usage in the Oxford English Dictionary, circa 1230, refers to the London street known as "Gropecunt Lane".

"Cunt" is also used informally as a derogatory epithet in referring to either sex, but this usage is relatively recent, dating back only as far as the late nineteenth century.[2] The Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines "cunt" as "an unpleasant or stupid person", whereas Merriam-Webster defines the term as "a disparaging term for a woman" and "a woman regarded as a sexual object"; the Macquarie Dictionary of Australian English defines it as "a despicable man".

The word appears to have been in common usage from the Middle Ages until the eighteenth century. After a period of disuse, usage became more frequent in the twentieth century and, in particular, in parallel with the rise of popular literature and pervasive media. The term also has various other derived uses and, like "fuck" and its derivatives, has been used mutatis mutandis as noun, pronoun, adjective, participle and other parts of speech.

Etymology

Although it has been said that "etymologists are unlikely to come to an agreement about the origins of cunt any time soon",[3] it is most usually stated to derive from a Germanic word (Proto-Germanic *kunton), which appeared as kunta in Old Norse, although the Proto-Germanic form itself is of uncertain origin.[4] In Middle English it appeared with many different spellings such as cunte and queynte, which did not always reflect the actual pronunciation of the word. There are cognates in most Germanic languages, such as the Swedish, Faroese and Old Norwegian dialect kunta; West Frisian and Middle Low German kunte; Middle Dutch conte; Dutch kut; Middle Low German kutte; Middle High German kotze (prostitute); German kott, and perhaps Old English cot. While kont in Dutch refers to the buttocks, kut is considered far less offensive in Dutch-speaking areas than cunt is in the English speaking world. The etymology of the Proto-Germanic term is disputed. It may have arisen by Grimm's law operating on the Proto-Indo-European root *gen/gon = "create, become" seen in gonads, genital, gamete, genetics, gene, or the Proto-Indo-European root *gwneH2/guneH2 (Greek gunê) = "woman" seen in gynaecology. Relationships to similar-sounding words such as the Latin cunnus (vulva), and its derivatives French con, Spanish coño, and Portuguese cona, have not been conclusively demonstrated. Other Latin words related to cunnus: cuneatus, wedge-shaped; cuneo v. fasten with a wedge; (figurative) to wedge in, squeeze in, leading to English words such as cuneiform (wedge-shaped).

The word for the female genitalia dates back to the Middle English period, c.1325. Its exact origin is unknown, but is related to the Old Norse kunta, a word with cognates in several other Germanic languages. From the Proverbs of Hendyng, a manuscript from sometime before 1325:[5]

Ȝeue þi cunte to cunnig and craue affetir wedding.
(Give your cunt wisely and make (your) demands after the wedding.)

Offensiveness

Generally

The word "cunt" is generally regarded in English-speaking countries as unusable in normal public discourse and has been described as "the most heavily tabooed word of all English words",[6][7] although John Ayto, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Slang, has disputed this, saying

Ethnic slurs are regarded as the taboo ... Nigger is far more taboo than fuck or even cunt. I think if a politician were to be heard off-camera saying fuck, it would be trivial, but if he said nigger, that would be the end of his career.[8]

Use of the word is also documented as the argot of some sections of society[9] and in recent years attempts have been made to mitigate its connotations by promoting positive uses.

Feminist perspectives

Some radical feminists of the 1970s sought to eliminate disparaging terms for women, including "bitch" and "cunt".[10] In the context of pornography, Catherine MacKinnon argued that use of the word acts to reinforce a dehumanisation of women by reducing them to mere body parts;[11] and in 1979 Andrea Dworkin described the word as reducing women to "the one essential - 'cunt: our essence ... our offence'".[11]

Despite criticisms, there is a movement within feminists that seeks to reclaim cunt not only as acceptable, but as an honorific, in much the same way that queer has been reclaimed by LGBT people.[12] Proponents include Inga Muscio in her book, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence[13] and Eve Ensler in "Reclaiming Cunt" from The Vagina Monologues.

The word was similarly reclaimed by Angela Carter who used it in the title story of The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories; a female character describing female genitalia in a pornography book: "her cunt a split fig below the great globes of her buttocks".[14]

Germaine Greer, who had previously published a magazine article entitled "Lady, Love Your Cunt",[15] discussed the origins, usage and power of the word in the BBC series Balderdash and Piffle. She suggests at the end of the piece that there is something precious about the word, in that it is now one of the few remaining words in English that still retains its power to shock.[16]

Usage: pre-20th century

Cunt has been in common use in its anatomical meaning since at least the 13th century. While Francis Grose's 1785 A Classical Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue listed the word as "C**T: a nasty name for a nasty thing",[17] it did not appear in any major dictionary of the English language from 1795 to 1961, when it was included in Webster's Third New International Dictionary with the comment "usu. considered obscene". Its first appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1972, which cites the word as having been in use since 1230 in what was supposedly a current London street name of "Gropecunte Lane." It was however also used before 1230 having been brought over by the Anglo-Saxons, originally not an obscenity but rather a factual name for the vulva or vagina. "Gropecunt Lane" was originally a street of prostitution, indicating a middle ages red light district. It was normal in those times for streets to be named after the goods available for sale therein, hence the prevalence in cities having a medieval history of names such as "Silver Street", "Fish Street", and "Swinegate" (pork butchers). In some locations, the former name has been Bowdlerised, as in the City of York, to the more acceptable "Grape Lane".[18]

The word appears several times in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (c. 1390), in bawdy contexts, but it does not appear to be considered obscene at this point, since it is used openly. A notable use is from the Miller's Tale "Pryvely he caught her by the queynte." The Wife of Bath also uses this term, "For certeyn, olde dotard, by your leave/You shall have queynte right enough at eve ... What aileth you to grouche thus and groan?/Is it for ye would have my queynte alone?" In modernised versions of these passages the word "queynte" is usually translated simply as "cunt".[19][20] However, in Chaucer's usage there seems to be an overlap between the words "cunt" and "quaint" (possibly derived from the Latin for "known"). "Quaint" was probably pronounced in Middle English in much the same way as "cunt." It is sometimes unclear whether the two words were thought of as distinct from one another. Elsewhere in Chaucer's work the word queynte seems to be used with meaning comparable to the modern "quaint" (charming, appealing).

By Shakespeare's day, the word seems to have become obscene. Although Shakespeare does not use the word explicitly (or with derogatory meaning) in his plays, he still plays with it, using wordplay to sneak it in obliquely. In Act III, Scene 2, of Hamlet, as the castle's residents are settling in to watch the play-within-the-play, Hamlet asks Ophelia, "Lady, shall I lie in your lap?" Ophelia, of course, replies, "No, my lord." Hamlet, feigning shock, says, "Do you think I meant country matters?" Then, to drive home the point that the accent is definitely on the first syllable of country, Shakespeare has Hamlet say, "That's a fair thought, to lie between maids' legs."[21] Also see Twelfth Night (Act II, Scene V): "There be her very Cs, her Us, and her Ts: and thus makes she her great Ps." A related scene occurs in Henry V: when Katherine is learning English, she is appalled at the "gros et impudique" English words "foot" and "gown," which her English teacher has mispronounced as "coun." It has been suggested that Shakespeare intends to suggest that she has misheard "foot" as "foutre" (French, "fuck") and "coun" as "con" (French "cunt", also used to mean "idiot").[22] Similarly John Donne alludes to the obscene meaning of the word without being explicit in his poem The Good-Morrow, referring to sucking on "country pleasures".

The 1675 Restoration comedy The Country Wife also features such wordplay, even in its title.

By the 17th century a softer form of the word, "cunny", came into use. A well known use of this derivation can be found in the 25 October 1668 entry of the diary of Samuel Pepys. He was discovered having an affair with Deborah Willet: he wrote that his wife "coming up suddenly, did find me imbracing the girl con my hand sub su coats; and endeed I was with my main in her cunny. I was at a wonderful loss upon it and the girl also....".[23]

Cunny was probably derived from a pun on coney, meaning "rabbit", rather as pussy is connected to the same term for a cat. (Philip Massinger: "A pox upon your Christian cockatrices! They cry, like poulterers' wives, 'No money, no coney.'")[24] Largely because of this usage, the word coney to refer to rabbits changed pronunciation from short "o" (like money and honey) to long "o" (cone, as in Coney Island), and has now almost completely disappeared from most dialects of English; in the same way the word "pussy" is now rarely used in America to refer to a cat.

Robert Burns used the word in his Merry Muses of Caledonia, a collection of bawdy verses which he kept to himself and were not publicly available until the mid-1960s.[25] In "Yon, Yon, Yon, Lassie", this couplet appears: "For ilka birss upon her cunt, Was worth a ryal ransom".[26]

Usage: modern

In modern literature

James Joyce was one of the first of the major 20th-century novelists to put the word "cunt" into print. In the context of one of the central characters in Ulysses, Leopold Bloom, Joyce refers to the Dead Sea and to

... the oldest people. Wandered far away over all the earth, captivity to captivity, multiplying, dying, being born everywhere. It lay there now. Now it could bear no more. Dead: an old woman's: the grey sunken cunt of the world.[27]

Joyce uses the word figuratively rather than literally; but while Joyce used the word only once in Ulysses, with four other wordplays ('cunty') on it, D. H. Lawrence used the word ten times in Lady Chatterley's Lover, in a more direct sense.[28] Mellors, the gamekeeper and eponymous lover, tries delicately to explain the definition of the word to Lady Constance Chatterley:

If your sister there comes ter me for a bit o' cunt an' tenderness, she knows what she's after.

The novel was the subject of an unsuccessful UK prosecution for obscenity in 1961 against its publishers, Penguin Books.[29]

Usage by Meaning

Referring to women

In referring to a woman, cunt is an abusive term usually considered the most offensive word in that context and even more forceful than bitch.[33] In the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the central character McMurphy, when pressed to explain exactly why he doesn't like the tyrannical Nurse Ratched, says, "she's something of a cunt, ain't she, Doc?"[34] It can also be used to imply that the sexual act is the primary function of a woman; for example, see below in relation to Saturday Night Fever.

In 2004, University of Colorado president Elizabeth Hoffman fanned the flames of a football rape case when, during a deposition, she was asked if she thought "cunt" was a "filthy and vile" word. She replied that it was a "swear word" but she had "actually heard it used as a term of endearment".[35] A spokesperson later clarified that Hoffman meant the word had polite meanings in its original use centuries ago. In the rape case, a CU football player had allegedly called female player Katie Hnida a "fucking lovely cunt".

Similarly, during the UK Oz trial for obscenity in 1971, prosecuting counsel asked writer George Melly "Would you call your 10-year-old daughter a cunt?" Melly replied "No, because I don't think she is."[36]

Referring to men

Frederic Manning's 1929 book The Middle Parts of Fortune, set in World War I, is a vernacular account of the lives of ordinary soldiers and describes regular use of the word by British Tommies. The word is invariably used to describe men:

And now the bastard's wearin' the bes' pair slung round ‘is own bloody neck. Wouldn't you've thought the cunt would ‘a' give me vingt frong for ‘em anyway? What's the cunt want to come down 'ere buggering us about for, 'aven't we done enough bloody work in th' week?[37]

Whilst normally derogatory in English-speaking countries, the word has an informal use, even being used as a term of endearment. Like the word fuck, use between youths is not uncommon, as exemplified by its use in the film Trainspotting, where it is an integral part of the common language of the principal characters.[38]

Referring to inanimate objects

Cunt is used extensively in Australia, Ireland and also in some parts of the UK as a replacement noun, more commonly among males and the working classes, similar to the use of motherfucker or son of a bitch among some Americans in extremely casual settings. For instance, "The cunt of a thing won't start," in reference to an automobile; or "Pass me that cunt," meaning "Pass me that item I need"; or "Those cunts down the road," referring to people in the vicinity. When used in this sense, the word does not necessarily imply contempt nor is it necessarily intended to be offensive.[citation needed]

Other uses

The word is sometimes used as a general expletive to show frustration, annoyance or anger, for example "I've had a cunt of a day!", "This is a cunt to finish".

Australians have a habit of pairing the word with another to give a more specific meaning such as cunt-rash (visible disorder of the female genitalia, again normally a general insult). The phrase "sick cunt" is sometimes used as a compliment by such sub-groups as Australian surfers, although the term originated within non-Australian groups who combined their use of the term "sick" with what they saw as a typically Aussie expletive.[citation needed]

A modern derivative adjective, cuntish (alternatively, cuntacious), meaning frustrating, awkward, or (when describing behavior) selfish, is increasingly used in England and has begun to appear in other regions, such as Scotland and Ireland.[citation needed]

Cunting is routinely used as an intensifying modifier, much like fucking. It can also be used as a slang term for criticism as in "Did you see the cunting he got for saying that?"

The word cunty is also known, although used rarely: a line from Hanif Kureishi's My Beautiful Laundrette is the definition of England by a Pakistani immigrant as "eating hot buttered toast with cunty fingers," suggestive of hypocrisy and a hidden sordidness or immorality behind the country's quaint façade. This term is attributed to British novelist Henry Green.[39]

Cunted can mean to be extremely under the influence of drink and/or drugs.[40]

Usage in modern popular culture

Theatre

Theatre censorship was effectively abolished in the UK in 1968; prior to that all theatrical productions had to be pre-vetted by the Lord Chamberlain; this relaxation made possible UK productions such as "Hair (The Musical)" and "Oh! Calcutta!". But "cunt" was not uttered on a British stage for some years.[41]

Television

Broadcast media, by definition, reach wide audiences and thus are regulated externally for content. To minimise not only public criticism but also regulatory sanctions, policies have been developed by media providers as to how "cunt" and similar words should be treated.[42] In a survey of 2000 commissioned by the British Broadcasting Standards Commission, Independent Television Commission, BBC and Advertising Standards Authority, "cunt" was regarded as the most offensive word which could be heard, above "motherfucker" and "fuck".[43] Nevertheless, there have been occasions when, particularly in a live broadcast, the word has been aired outside editorial control:

However "cunt" has crossed over from accidental to purposeful use:

  • The first scripted use of the word in the United Kingdom was in the ITV drama "No Mama No", broadcast in 1979.[44]
  • Jerry Springer - The Opera was shown by the BBC in January 2005. The performance included the phrase "cunting, cunting, cunting, cunting cunt" (a description of the Devil). However, more controversy was generated by the Christ saying that he "Might be 'a bit gay'" than by the use of "cunt".[48]
  • In July 2007 BBC Three dedicated a full hour to the word in a detailed documentary ("The 'C' Word") about the origins, use and evolution of the word from the early 1900s to the present day. Presented by British comedian Will Smith, viewers were taken to a street in Oxford once called 'Gropecunt Lane' and presented with examples of the acceptability of "cunt" as a word.[49]

In the US the broadcast use of "cunt" is still rare; nevertheless, the word has slowly infiltrated into broadcasting:

Film

The word has few, if any, recorded uses in mainstream cinema prior to the 1970s, the first known being in Carnal Knowledge (1971) in which Jonathan (Jack Nicholson) asks "Is this an ultimatum? Answer me, you ball-busting, castrating, son of a cunt bitch! Is this an ultimatum or not?"[52] Its subsequent use was limited for a while to films restricted to adult audiences, such as The Exorcist (1973) in which Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran) addresses the butler, Karl (Rudolf Schündler): "Cunting Hun! Bloody damn butchering Nazi pig!"[53] and Taxi Driver (1976) in which Travis Bickle (Robert de Niro) describes himself as "A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is a man who stood up."[54][55]
Saturday Night Fever (1977) was released in two versions, 'R' (Restricted) and 'PG' (Parental Guidance), the latter omitting or replacing dialogue such as Tony Manero (John Travolta)'s comment to Annette (Donna Pescow) "It's a decision a girl's gotta make early in life, if she's gonna be a nice girl or a cunt."[56] This differential persists, and in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Agent Starling (Jodie Foster) meets Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) for the first time and passes the cell of "Multiple Miggs", who says to Starling: "I can smell your cunt." In versions of the film edited for television the word is dubbed with the word scent.[57]
More recently, use of the word "cunt" in film is still capable of generating controversy; in 2002 Ken Loach's film Sweet Sixteen was given an "18" rating by the British Board of Film Classification, ensuring that young people of the age depicted in the film were unable to view it legally. This rating was imposed because of the language used, with an estimated twenty uses of "cunt".[58]

Comedy

In their Derek and Clive dialogues, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, particularly Cook, arguably made the word more accessible in the UK; in the 1976 sketch "This Bloke Came Up To Me", "cunt" is used over thirty times.[59] The word is also used extensively by British comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown, which ensures that his stand-up act has never been fully shown on UK television.[41] Australian comedic singer Kevin Bloody Wilson makes extensive use of the word, most notably in the songs Caring Understanding Nineties Type and You Can't Say "Cunt" in Canada.[60] The word appears on George Carlin's list of the seven dirty words.

Popular music

In 1977, during a concert at New York's Bottom Line, Carlene Carter introduced a song by stating, "If this song don't put the cunt back in country, I don't know what will." The comment was quoted widely in the press, and Carter spent much of the next decade trying to live the comment down.[61] However use of the word in lyrics is not recorded before the punk rock band Sex Pistols' 1978 version of My Way, which marked the first known use of the word in a UK Top Ten hit, as a line was changed to "You cunt/I'm not a queer".[62] The following year, "cunt" was used more explicitly in the song "Why D'Ya Do It? from Marianne Faithfull's album Broken English:

Why'd ya do it, she screamed, after all we've said,
Every time I see your dick I see her cunt in my bed.[63]

Since then, the word has been used by numerous non-mainstream bands, such as Australian band TISM, who released an EP in 1993 "Australia the Lucky Cunt", and a single in 1998 entitled "I Might Be a Cunt, but I'm Not a Fucking Cunt", which was banned. The American grindcore band Anal Cunt, on being signed to a bigger label, shortened their name to AxCx.

Big Pun is a rapper who has used the word, referring to the vagina, in the song "I'm Not a Player" from his 1998 debut album Capital Punishment. He says in a line "Excuse me for bein' blunt, but I've been eatin' cunts".[64]

Eminem is another rapper who uses the word, in his songs "Brain Damage" from his 1999 album The Slim Shady LP and "Who Knew" from his 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP.

Computer/Video Games

In the 2004 title The Getaway: Black Monday by SCEE was the first videogame to use the word.[citation needed] It is used several time during the game.[65]

In the 2008 title Grand Theft Auto IV by Rockstar North and distributed by Take Two Interactive, available on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, the word, amongst many other expletives, was used by at least one in-game character as a general expletive towards another in-game character or characters.[66]

Linguistic variants and derivatives

Various euphemisms, minced forms and in-jokes are used to imply the word without actually saying it, thereby escaping obvious censure and censorship.

Spoonerisms and acronyms

Deriving from a dirty joke: "What's the difference between a circus and a strip club?"- "The circus has a bunch of cunning stunts...",[67] the phrase cunning stunt has been used in popular music. Its first documented appearance was by the English band Caravan who released the album Cunning Stunts in July 1975;[68] the title was later used by Metallica for a CD/Video compilation, and in 1992 the Cows released an album with the same title. In his 1980s BBC television programme, Kenny Everett played a vapid starlet, Cupid Stunt,[69] and more recently comedian Al Murray has hosted a British television comedy game show, Fact Hunt.[70]

There are numerous informal acronyms, including various apocryphal stories concerning academic establishments, such as the Cambridge University National Trust Society.[71]

See also See you next Tuesday

Puns

The name Mike Hunt is a frequent substitute for the unspeakable; it has been used in a scene from the movie Porky's,[72] for a character in the BBC radio comedy Radio Active.[73] and in the title of a 2004 exhibition at the British Library, "Has Anyone Seen Mike Hunt?"[74] Apart from more directly obvious references, Stephen Fry famously defined countryside on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue as the act of 'murdering Piers Morgan' [75] and in Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Donna and Gaz are perusing erotic novels when they come across The Count of Monte Cristo. However, Gaz helpfully informs Donna that 'it doesn't say Count'.[76] Similarly, in an episode of Spaced, Sophie tells Tim that she can't see him as there's been a misprint on the title of one of the magazines she works on - Total Cult.[77] In all these uses, the audience are left to make the connection.

Even Parliaments are not immune from punning uses; as recalled by former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam:

Never in the House did I use the word which comes to mind. The nearest I came to doing so was when Sir Winton Turnbull, a member of the cavalleria rusticana, was raving and ranting on the adjournment and shouted: "I am a Country member". I interjected "I remember". He could not understand why, for the first time in all the years he had been speaking in the House, there was instant and loud applause from both sides.[78]

and Mark Lamarr used a variation of this same gag on BBC TV's Never Mind the Buzzcocks. "Stuart Adamson was a Big Country member... and we do remember".[79]

Rhyming slang

Several celebrities have had their names used as euphemisms, including footballer Roger Hunt,[80] actor Gareth Hunt,[81][82][83] singer James Blunt,[74] and 1970s motor-racing driver James Hunt, whose name was once used to introduce the radio show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue as "the show that is to panel games what James Hunt is to rhyming slang".[74]

A canting form of some antiquity is berk, short for "Berkeley Hunt" or "Berkshire Hunt",[84][85] and in a Monty Python sketch, an idioglossiac man replaces the initial "c" of words with "b", producing silly bunt. Scottish comedian Chic Murray claimed to have worked for a firm called "Lunt, Hunt & Cunningham".[86]

Other meanings

The word "cunt" forms part of some technical terms used in seafaring and other industries.

Nautical usage

File:CuntSplice.gif
Unfinished cunt splice

A cunt splice is a type of rope splice used to join two lines in the rigging of ships. The two ends are side spliced together with a gap between the two parts, forming a short section where the two lines lay side-by-side when taut.[87] In recent times its name has been bowdlerised to "cut splice".

The Dictionary of Sea Terms, found within Dana's 1841 maritime compendium The Seaman's Friend, defines the word cuntline as "the space between the bilges of two casks, stowed side by side. Where one cask is set upon the cuntline between two others, they are stowed bilge and cuntline."[88] The "bilge" of a barrel or cask is the widest point, so when stored together the two casks would produce a curved V-shaped gap.

The glossary of The Ashley Book of Knots by Clifford W. Ashley, first published in 1944, defines cuntlines as "the surface seams between the strands of a rope."[89] Though referring to a different object than Dana's definition, it similarly describes the crease formed by two abutting cylinders.[90]

US military usage

U.S. military personnel refer privately to a common uniform item, a flat, soft cover (hat) with a fold along the top resembling an invagination, as a cunt cap.[91] The proper name for the item is garrison cap or overseas cap, depending on the organization in which it is worn.

Hot-metal printing

In the traditional hot-metal printing industry, a cunt lead was a term that was formerly used to describe a small additional inter-line gap, usually of less than 1pt. The term is derived from the term leading which describes more generally inter-line gaps (from the strips of lead that were used to provide the separations).

Others

  • Cunt hair (sometimes as red cunt hair)[91] has been used since the late 1950s to signify a very small distance.[2]
  • Cunt-eyed has been used to refer to a person suffering from a squint.[2]

Notes and references

  1. ^ Wiktionary
  2. ^ a b c Morton, Mark (2004). The Lover's Tongue: A Merry Romp Through the Language of Love and Sex. Toronto, Canada: Insomniac Press. ISBN 978-1894663519. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ Wajnryb, Ruth (2005). Language Most Foul. Australia: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 174114776X.
  4. ^ "Online Etymological Dictionary" (HTML). Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  5. ^ Unknown (2001). An Old English Miscellany Containing a Bestiary, Kentish Sermons... Delaware: Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 0543941167.
  6. ^ Rawson, Henry (1991). A Dictionary of Invective. London: Robert Hale Ltd. ISBN 978-0709043997.
  7. ^ "TV's most offensive words". November 21, 2005. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  8. ^ "Expletive deleted". November 21, 2002. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
  9. ^ ""HE'S AN UGLY CUNT, ISN'T HE?": cunt". Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  10. ^ Johnston, Hank (1995). Social Movements and Culture. Routledge. p. 174. ISBN 185728500X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ a b Lacombe, Dany (1994). Blue Politics: Pornography and the Law in the Age of Feminism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 27. ISBN 0802073522.
  12. ^ "Penn State Feminists Stage X-Rated Event on Students' Dime" (HTML). Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  13. ^ "Cunt: A Declaration of Independence" (HTML). Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  14. ^ Carter, Angela (1979). The Bloody Chamber. London: Vintage. ISBN 0 09 958811 0.
  15. ^ anthologized in Germaine Greer, The Madwoman's Underclothes: Essays and Occasional Writings, (1986)
  16. ^ "Balderdash & Piffle". 2006-02-06. BBC Three. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |episodelink= and |serieslink= (help); Missing or empty |series= (help)
  17. ^ Grose, Francis. A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. London 1788 (pages not numbered)]
  18. ^ Baker, N & Holt, R. (2000). "Towards a geography of sexual encounter: prostitution in English medieval towns", in L. Bevan: Indecent Exposure: Sexuality, Society and the Archaeological Record. Cruithne Press: Glasgow, 187-98
  19. ^ From Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales", The Wife of Bath's Prologue, lines 330-342
  20. ^ Wife of Bath's Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer
  21. ^ Partridge, Eric, Shakespeare's Bawdy, Routledge, London, 2001, p.111
  22. ^ Partridge, Eric, Shakespeare's Bawdy, Routledge, London, 2001, p.110
  23. ^ Abbot, Mary, Life Cycles in England, 1560-1720: Cradle to Grave, Routledge, 1996, p.201
  24. ^ Ship, Joseph Twadell, The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, JHU Press, 1984, p.129
  25. ^ "Merry Muses of Caledonia by Robert Burns" (HMTL). Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  26. ^ "Merry Muses of Caledonia by Robert Burns" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  27. ^ Commentary on Joyce
  28. ^ Review of "Lady Chatterley"
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Further reading

External links