To ask where this awful word came from?

[WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant]

Fanjo.
Even my auto-correct doesn't like it. Fan jo.

I don't mind any of the slang words. But saying vagina when you mean vulva is annoying because it's wrong - they are different things, not different words for the same thing. Vagina = the internal tube that goes from cervix to outside world, nothing else. Vulva = the entire external genitals.

I think the obsession on MN is actually with the ghastly fanjo, a made up word which could mean either vulva or vagina or both and one which most people never seem to have encountered anywhere other than on MN.
Vulva is straightforward and specific.

Vulva sounds like something a serial killer would say

"And yes, Chaos, moist is the worst word ever. Ugh. Moist. Shudder."
Except for ...panties. Barf!

"Fanjo is just another babyish MN word. THE WORD IS VAGINA."
For clarification, are you talking about the inside bit (vagina) or the outside bits (vulva)?

"I don't mind any of the slang words. But saying vagina when you mean vulva is annoying because it's wrong - they are different things, not different words for the same thing."
Exactly why it irritates me so much. It's plain incorrect, yet so widely used. You wouldn't call your knee your ankle, even though it's all part of your leg, would you

If you don't like vulva, then nobody is going to make you use it. There are other words that are equally accurate, like puddendum.

To me, Fanjo sounds like something an abuser would say to a little girl.

Soldier I personally usually just say "fanny", not really into medical/clinical terms

Vulva is straightforward and specific.

And gives people the opportunity to sneer if you use vagina by mistake.

IMO, fanjo refers to the whole thing. vulva and vagina.

America!

why would you use vagina when you mean vulva?
It's like saying thigh instead of shin.
Maybe it isn't sneering so much as confusion?

Fanjo = Fan-gina, a mixture of fanny and vagina. At least I think that's where it's derived from.

I never had 'pet' names for the vagina or bum or willy when the kids were little.

Aren't 'bum' and 'willy' pet names?

But cunt hasn't "become offensive" - it is offensive and has been offensive and a term of abuse for over 100 years.

To say it "has become offensive" suggests a recent departure from an accepted usage, whereas the reverse is true.

Yes, there is indeed an older usage, but today the traditional usage is offensive. The older usage of cunt as a non-offensive term is archaic and the traditional usage is that cunt is highly abusive and offensive and generally one of the worst swear words out there.

If you are so convinced about your mission to reclaim the word, why limit it to "women of my generation"? Are younger/older women not capable of making up their own minds about it?

Ah man people seriously need to bugger off with their Vulvas. Makes you sounds like a right Pratt when people pop up on every single thread meeping vulva.

Stick your Vulvas up your arse man

Anybody want to shower?

Oh GhettoFabulous 'fanjo' reminds me of the hairy banjo song too!
(Popular in Fife too in the 70's)

I have no problem with fanjo, really... sounds quite inoffensive, just like willy does. Fanny never really was the easy, say-in-front-of-your-granny word that willy is. In my experience, at least.

I'd feel a right twat saying vulva to anyone other than my doctor. I don't think anyone has ever said it to me in conversation, either.

The vulva brigade really piss me off. People use slang for all sorts of stuff, it's really no big deal. Honestly do some people have no sense of humour? Do you spend your whole life tutting and sneering when anyone says anything other than the precise definition of a word?

No one in my entire life has ever used the word vulva to me and I've had two children and also an army of Gynae's up there fixing a prolapse.

Fanjo is just a word, it's inoffensive and its meaning is clear. I don't use it personally but that's because I prefer the term "velvet pouch" Classy!

FooFoo here, used to refer to the whole area. My 6yo knows vagina, vulva and the difference between the two but prefers the use of Foofoo or Foof.

I quite like it and and use it for talking about my vulva and/or vagina. I agree it's much better than minge, twat etc
I never have and never will use cunt to describe parts of my body. That word is rarely used but is kept for special people who deserve the offensiveness and the title and that's all.
I only use the correct names when speaking to the GP or teaching children.

Do people really think to themselves or say such things like ''Ooh! my vulva is itchy/sore/whatever'' ? I just can't imagine it tbh.

I like fanjo. I don't think it's twee.

wouldn't want my jokey name to sound like something 'an abuser would say to a little girl'

I'm surprised how many people don't like fanjo. I think it's great - short for fanny, int it?

Roaring at Shereen and sniggering at the memories of the Hairy Banjo song.

What's wrong with the word moist?

I think I don't think it's twee because of the fan bit, like fanny which I think makes it suitably coarse.