would you call someone a cunt to their face

[hobnobsaremyfavourite]

That's it really. Some posters seem happy to bandy around the term quite happily on here but I suspect they are all talk with very little trousers IYSWIM. There are others who I am very certain could call a fanny a vagina.
So AIBU in thinking people are vey happy to type the word but out there in the real world face to face with another human being they wouldn't have the front/arrogance/nastiness to do it?

I don't think it's as clear as that.

What you may consider offensive words - for whateve reason - may simply not be of any interest or importance to someone else.

But I take your point about this being an interesting debate.

Sorry that was a repy to Pagwatch

I think Northerners find the word Cunt more offensive than Southerners. I wouldnt dare call anyone a Cunt but would call them a Divvy which other people would find highly offensive. I would say to my friend if she fell over you Divvy/Divvie

The word actually comes from a lamp used down the pits (scotch Davy Lamp) Long story but its got nothing to do with disabled people.

I tend to use cunt and cock as same level insults. Both are as bad as each other and equally humiliating for the recipient of the insult. Again, depends on the delivery.

Yes, I agree. It is complicated. I think language is so context driven that it is hard to have any rules about what is ok or not.
Which is why having words that people think simply should not be used is odd to me.

Under my breath about the person who left their dog turd baggie in my bin. It's not a word I use IRL

I utilise the word Feck. It's IMHO much less worse than Fuck. Can't rationalise why.
But I tend not to swear out loud.
And I have a Diploma. I'm ancient.

I would talk about someone and call them a cunt on MN (e.g. your exP sounds like a right cunt) as I would in real life, but I wouldn't directly call someone a cunt on MN or in RL. So I suppose that makes me a two faced cunt! (I wouldn't call myself a cunt in RL though )

I swear a lot - as part of my converstaion - I have tried to cut down but work in a sweary office so it just carries on. Soemtimes it slips out in normal company and I feel awful!!

I think that if I met a few people on here in RL, I'd call them a cunt.

Especially the cunt who got my post banned when I called her a cunt. In fact, I think it might have been a fucking cunt, but I forget now... (You know who you are, you ROBIN HOOD RELATED CHARACTER).

(She popped my MN deleted message cherry! Dead proud of myself over that one!!)

I didn't like to use the word. Then I got over yself and 'liberated' my language.

I'm a real potty mouth, me. And yes, it STILL has shock value for me. I LOVE IT!!

And I still think some people are trash, on here and in real life, and if I get annoyed enough, I will use it.

'But having a cunt is not something I wish to change. It does not diminish me. It is not change worthy. It does not diminish me in the minds of an average person.'

Don't know if that was in reply to my post Pag. As i said it sort of reminds me of Paki, people from there can't change where they are from and shouldn't feel they have to or feel ashamed about it but some people still try and demean them about it - same as 'cunt' for women. It's not nice for some people (more so men) to try and make women feel bad about their sexuality or their bodies. As i said where I came from it was the highest insult and would often provoke a violent reaction. Obviously the younger generation feel differently about it and generally seem to use it in a different way.

TechLovingDad - if i heard you use that against a woman as a way to insult her to the highest level then i must admit i wouldn't be impressed. Don't really think that's something to be proud of but sure you will disagree.

Re. Good point begony.

I guess my thing would be though that being a woman does not make me a minority. Calling someone a paki in Pakistan would not create the same effect as in London in the 1970s because the person saying it probably does not hold any power in that situation.

To be offended by cunt I would have to assume that the user has some position of power from which to try and diminish me - that I am somehow vulnerable. Paki and retard offend me because they are against minorities who may well be vulnerable. That is why, to me, they are different.

I suspect using paki in Pakistan would be a pretty reckless and spectacularly stupid thing to do so we can't really test my theory

No I would not use it - I see it as just another word to reinforce the dehumanisation of women.

I wouldn't call anybody that name, not here or in RL. I personally find swearing aggressive and I don't differentiate between 'names'. I don't understand the difference either in calling somebody one name yet being outraged that somebody else chooses to use another name that is equally offensive to me.

What I don't understand , is why any woman would refer to her own genitallia with such a degrading word.

To me its a beautiful part of a woman's body; not for its appearance but its function in giving us pleasure and for most of us it played a huge part in how our wonderful children got made or/and entered the world.

(I know technically it only refers to the vulva but in society we see it as reffering to the whole vagina).

So to me that devalues something sacred to something vulgar and offensive and that is why I hate the word.

that's a fair point Pag and I've swayed during this thread depending on how people have argued their viewpoint as their have been many interesting points and views made. I don't feel a victim or anything but still feel men can hold more power over women , even in this day and age and it still smacks of puting a woman in her place knowing that she probably doesn't have the power to strike back the way a man could. The fact that it is considered the ultimate swear word or insult (again to some of us older folk) - it seems to or was meant to have more clout than other swear words or insults. The only other that seems just as strong is when mothers were insulted ('son of a whore' type thing)- again strangely against women.

Dh and I say cunt to each other when we're joking about.

I have used the words you are a no good for nothing cunt many a time to a male past bf.

I think we agree on that.

But my reaction to the notion that a womans genitalia is the worst thing you can call someone is to stop treating it as more insulting than cock or dick.

I think if we accept the notion that cunt is a worse insult that cock then we are agreeing that being called something female is a far greater insult than something male. I would prefer to treat both the same.

I would in real life but not on here - i always find it a bit pathetic when people use it on here

Pag - yes i agree and thought that point made sense. Take the power from the word by normalising it though it's still not a word I use or feel that comfortable with. That's my problem in life too, soooo indecisive and a right ditherer!

Not indecisive and a ditherer. We just like to weigh stuff up don't we?

in fact i might have to tackle my life long aversion to this word in the way that folk with phobias do and tackle it head on. So if you see some strange woman walking down the street smiling and saying 'cunt, cunt, cuntitity cunt!' - that's probably me!