...... to think it is profoundly anti feminist to use the word "cunt"...

[BertrandRussell]

....to describe, for example, an abusive violent man? I find the idea that, when looking for a word to describe awful, awful behaviour, we use a word for women's genitals horribly misogynistic.

Or am I just stuck in the 70s?

"Which only makes it even more of a pointless and navel gazing exercise than it already is."

You don't actually have to post, you know!

"I don't agree. I think you're starting from a faulty premise"

So why do you think that it's still the worst swear word?

I don't think it necessarily IS the worst swear word. Hence the faulty premise.

Fair enough.

You don't actually have to post, you know!

I only did initially as linguistics and English are my personal area of interest (though admittedly, I focused more on language acquisition than sociolinguistics during my years at university). I was taught to look at all language in a scientific manner, rather than letting personal views cloud judgement. This is often the case that happens when reacting to individual words, dialects and accents - MN has shown this over and over (and often rudely judging anyone who have their own geographical linguistic features to their speech).

However, it has become inherently clear that a discussion of this manner is not what you were hoping for and would evidently prefer to believe everything is a personal offence towards women. Which is fair enough, but as I said, there's a Feminist forum for that. Or as PiffleandWiffle said we'll all personally petition for you to have your own MN soap box, with replies not an option.

You don't actually have to post, you know!

Someone has to give counter views. Isn't that rather the point?

cunt has stayed resolutely in the same place.

Has it though? Did it instantly become the most offensive word in English from the offset or did it grow into that label over hundreds of years. The latter is far more likely, especially considering that censorship only really became a 'thing' in the Victorian age (not that long ago). Why more censored than fuck or shit? Again, not to keep women down, but because speaking of a woman's parts in such a way would have been utterly shameful (I would imagine even more so with a woman on the throne). It's very easy to throw 'prick', and later 'dick' around - have you actually considered that it may have been out of respect for women that this was the 'worst word', rather than the opposite? That by reclaiming it, we as women are saying 'don't belittle us, we can use crude words as well, we're not embarrassed by cunt and don't need protecting from it'.

To sum up, cunt, the strongest and most offensive swearword is used mostly by speakers in
the age-range of 15-24 and it is not used at all among speakers older than 35. Males are the
most frequent users, but this is the only swearword in this investigation that is used most
frequent among speakers in the AB class, and this is also were the largest number of hits were
found. The C1 class is not represented at all among the users of cunt
www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:224208/FULLTEXT01.pdf
From this study. How valid it is I don't know.

Cunt was part of a common street name hundreds of years ago. I went to a lecture on it a few years ago, at Durham University I think it was. Fascinating stuff, about usage changes.

Here's wiki:

"Gropecunt Lane /ˈɡroʊpkʌnt ˈleɪn/ was a street name found in English towns and cities during the Middle Ages, believed to be a reference to the prostitution centred on those areas; it was normal practice for a medieval street name to reflect the street's function or the economic activity taking place within it. Gropecunt, the earliest known use of which is in about 1230, appears to have been derived as a compound of the words grope and cunt. Streets with that name were often in the busiest parts of medieval towns and cities, and at least one appears to have been an important thoroughfare.Although the name was once common throughout England, changes in attitude resulted in its replacement by more innocuous versions such as Grape Lane. A variation of Gropecunt was last recorded as a street name in 1561."

To sum up, cunt, the strongest and most offensive swearword is used mostly by speakers in the age-range of 15-24 and it is not used at all among speakers older than 35

Not used at all in the over 35's? I ca tell you that is categorically not true. If anything its the other way around in my experience.

That study was published in 2009-long enough for the age profile to have changed?

That's only 8 years, so those 35 year olds would be 43. Go and ask my 60 year old builders if they use the word cunt, because I've heard it about 87 times this morning already! They appear to be using it pretty much as punctuation right outside my window.

it's probably a class thing as well. I wonder where that study got its samples from.

May I take a moment to recommend this most fabulous book to anyone of an etymological and obscene bent: Holy Sh*t? Not least for the world's most brilliantly diverse index where, for example, 'Ariosto, Ludovico' is followed by 'arse'.

Cunt is, as I understand it, an 'obscene' word thanks to Victorian-ish ideas about what is and isn't shameful. It and other variants such as 'cunny' had been perfectly standard words previously. Mohr posits that, as we move onto different taboos - these days usually based around race - words like the N word will take on more meanings and invective and potentially even become verbs.

So the argument could be made that, if you believe women's reproductive systems to be taboo and shameful, then by all means think 'cunt' is shameful and taboo also. If you don't, then cunt about with gay abandon.

Bertrand
No, I apply different rules because society does. We collectively as a society in this country have ranked our swear words. The rankings are different in other countries.

That is not why you are applying different rules. You have a two-tier approach which allows you to reject Cunt as anti-feminist, but use Dick as a derogatory term because it's milder. Somehow I think that your position on Cunt as an insult won't change if/when something with greater power to offend comes along.

But other words have moved up and down the scale-cunt has stayed resolutely in the same place.

What, during your life-time as a swearer? I would say that over the last 30 years, its popularity/usage has increased and as a result, its power to offend has actually decreased.

Oh, fascicle, is it because I is a feminist?

No, just bloody awkward

its popularity/usage has increased and as a result, its power to offend has actually decreased. I think that's true. I did a PGCE in my 40s and most of the students were 20 somethings. One of the young female students said to one of the males 'Harry'. 'I think Harry's a cunt!'
Harry smiled affectionately at her. I was .

The reason 'cunt' is considered such an aggressive and derogatory swear word is nothing to do with it also being a word for female genitals. It has everything to do with it being such a harsh sounding expletive combining both the plosive consonants of 'c' and 't'. These sounds make it feel very aggressive and direct.

If female genitalia were called 'fiffypoowaffs' or 'moohooshoos' then these terms wouldn't be used as expletives.

I’m not adding anything to this, except that I wish I’d managed to blag writing an essay on the use of ‘cunt’