How do we feel about the c-word?

[JustineMumsnet]

Generally, as you know, we take a fairly relaxed view about swearing on MN but we do in our Talk Policy promise to remove postings that are obscene.

We've had a complaint about the c-word as posted here and are rather torn as to whether to leave it or not - it's not a personal attack so were it your average term of abuse, we'd usually let it stand. But some people hate the c-word and view it as much worse than traditional forms of abuse - beyond the pale as it were, others argue that it should be reclaimed...we're somewhere on the fence and it's not comfortable

Would be good to garner your thoughts, so we can jump off one way or t'other?

I posted as MrsCuntingMango for a day and nobody seemed to mind - nothing else describes those flowery, rotten before they're ripe annoyances quite as well.

I liked the Chaucer too, more please.

please don't ban it. it's a word. keep the ban on personal attacks by all means. but don't ban words. a very slippery slope indeed. Two thoughts

1. Words can be used in very different ways. eg

• You're a cunt
• That bus driver was a cunt
• I like my cunt
• I don't like the word "cunt".

(took a lot to write that as I'm not a huge fan, but I am a greater fan of freedom of speech than a critic of that word)

4 uses - 4 very different uses - if you ban the word you ban them all.

1. I can think of a whole host of words that I personally find far more offensive. And which I expect I am not alone in finding offensive. Racial slurs - by far the biggest swear words of the 21st century. Words that are offensive to the disabled or mentally ill. ban one you need to ban them all. You can't police people like that - it's just not workable.

1. from the Style Guide of a well known UK newspaper: I particularly like the Bronte quote:

swearwords
We are more liberal than any other newspaper, using words such as cunt and fuck that most of our competitors would not use.
The editor's guidelines are straightforward:
First, remember the reader, and respect demands that we should not casually use words that are likely to offend.
Second, use such words only when absolutely necessary to the facts of a piece, or to portray a character in an article; there is almost never a case in which we need to use a swearword outside direct quotes.
Third, the stronger the swearword, the harder we ought to think about using it.
Finally, never use asterisks, which are just a copout, or as Charlotte Brontë elegantly put it:
"The practice of hinting by single letters those expletives with which profane and violent people are wont to garnish their discourse, strikes me as a proceeding which, however well meant, is weak and futile. I cannot tell what good it does - what feeling it spares - what horror it conceals."

In don;t mind seeing the Cambridge University Netball Team

Have been known to utter it once ot twice in the past
Can't see how it's any mor offensive than fuck, tweat or dick

It's far less offensive than "hate" IMHO

Tbh, all words can be offesnsive if delivered a particular way.

obv twat not tweat

not bothered

C u next tuesday

We should reclaim it.

Bet that's The Guardian stylebook.

pmsl @ tweat

Guardian?? never

I feel outraged that the word considered to be the very worst thing anyone can utter in our society means vagina. How outreageous. What on earth does that say about society's attitide to women.

I don't mind it. I think it's time we took the heat out of it and tried to reclaim it rather than passing down our weirdness to another generation.

Ban 'tweat'.

God, I'm a tweat

Banning cunt is the thin end of the wedge

Besides, if we vbanned cunts, where would I be able to post?

no time but what harpsi said:
"I don't think the use of the word cunt in this context could be described as "obscene" by any stretch of the imagination.
imo there is no way the post contravenes the rules/policy smile
tbh I don't have any problem with it whatsoever, but I would have a big problem with this kind of censorship.
this is a site for adults and proper sensible adults at that
that'#s what makes it so marvellous

it's not a word I use
but NO to banning words on MN

I love the fact that you can potentially say anything at all on MN (obviously not for attacking another poster)-
it respects the fact that we are grown-ups and live in a grown-up world

"I feel outraged that the word considered to be the very worst thing anyone can utter in our society means vagina."

Exactky

Its not a word I would ever use (spoken or written) but I don't object to seeing it in a post on here.

If you were to ban it then how long would it be before objections were raised about other words, where do you draw the line?

The word "panties" makes me but I'm not going to demand that you ban it (.....I might ask nicely though )

When Newcastle Poly changed its name they seriously considered for a while:

City University Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

"Why-ay man, gannin' oop the CUNT tha neet?"

Can "banning cunt is the thin end of the wedge" as our quote of the week ?

oops, English went a bit cock-eyed there

tweat

The more I think about it, the more I agree with those who say we should reclaim the word. What better place than mumsnet to start such a reclamation. We should just start using it neutrally, to refer to vagina; and perhaps as a wry and non-agressive swearword.

Sorry if I'm a bit late to this one
I don't like the word used as an obscenity but it's better IMO than censoring

I am shocked that so many think swearing shows a lack of intelligence,although I do try and deter ds using that argument but most of my friends are graduates etc all intelligent and swear like troopers in certain situations.

Kitty said: "Put it this way the people I know who are intelligent do swear, of course, but not nearly as much as those with fewer brain cells."

Oh Kitty! That's utter fucking bollocks! And you couldn't possibly put any truth into that statement unless you were holding the results of a VERY large study on the subject!

The Guardian 'cunts' left, right and centre, doesn't it?