Use of the word cunt as an insult towards a male

[kukeslala]

Hi

Have posted this on another thread, but very interested to read some more replies, so have decided to give myself my own thread.

I have been reading this board for a few days, and have noticed the word cunt being used to insult males.

I just dont get it?

Why use a word that describes a females vagina to insult a male.

Its not that it is classed as a swear word, its that its used to describe a female body part and then its being used in a derogatory way to insult someone- IYSWIM?

Is it being used to reclaim the word? Or just used without thinking?

Thanks

No No NO!!!!

I cant read the link, lemon drizzle cake is my fave.... but want to read the link...dont read the lilk--arrrghhh.

It's okay. No lemon drizzle cake was harmed during the thread. But someone did punch some victoria sponges at the end :)

Im on pg 9...
This is so funny, I cant wait to see if lemon drizzle murder pops up...

Did anyone read my link? It says that the word cunt is actually complimentary and can be translated as 'queen who is good with letters and numbers'. I'd rather name my fanny after that than only have it be defined by what goes in it.

wren, are you sure the link is a real etymology?

I'm fairly sure 'cuneiform' comes from the Latin for 'wedge-shaped'. It's a fairly new word so far as I know (ie., a few centuries). People called early writing 'cuneiform' because of the shape of the letters.

Dunno - Gloria Bertonis is an MEd So I'd hope so.

www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=cunt&searchmode=none

Yep - wedge is mentioned here too.

male and female WHAT? Do you mean men and women OP?

Yes, I get the etymology of 'cunt' but I don't think the etymology of 'cuneiform' is related.

And, honestly, I would be monumentally surprised if anyone could stretch it to mean 'queen who is good with letters and numbers'.

I had always assumed this was meant to a deliberately fairy-tale etymology, a sort of 'what if ...' idea, not a serious one?

I am also liking the street in Oxford named 'Gropecuntlane'.

Anyway, I thinks it is an ACE word and is a much more fitting name for my woman parts. Vagina is so DULL.

There are loads of 'gropecuntlane' streets. I think several of them got politely re-named 'Grape Street', so that always makes me smile too.

gropecuntlane?

Super

gropecocklane - are there any of those?

That "Origins of Cunt" link is complete twaddle.

"cuneiform" is from Latin "cuneous", meaning "wedge". It was coined in the 16th century.

Scholars disagree about the origin of "cunt". The ancient Sumerian word for female genitalia is not actually known to us precisely today.

Many etymologists (myself included) dispute the link to the word "queen".

The article cites no references at all for its assertions, no citations, no chains of evidence, nothing.

"whore" does not derive from "houri"

As for "all words beginning with qu derive from "kunta" - words fail me.

Actually, no they don't.

What on earth was the writer thinking, linking unrelated languages from different families???

Ancient Sumerian -probably Semitic
Latin (source of "cuneous") Indo-European
Turkic (actual source of "khan") Altaic

Just because words start in a similar way - quiet, queen, quill, for example, doesn't mean they all came from the same root. It is entirely possible to have a word in Language A that sounds the same as or similar to a word in Language B and for the two to be completely unrelated.

I give you "moroni" - it means carrots in Welsh. If I were to follow the etymology logic from that article, I would have to argue that carrots were seen as stupid by the Welsh or something along those lines.

Mitchy1nge

Hi, why are you shouting at me?

And breath, alex.

I'm glad you said that though.

ku, now I'm curious about words with qu (is 'ku' the same?!), I was wondering - does your name have a meaning?

kukes is the village my husband was born in, being from a different small country (Albania) and a very small village, nobody has ever used it yet (except him), where you need to pick a user name.
So one day after 20 times (may be exaggerating, but felt like it) of getting "already taken, please chooses another user name", I adopted it.

Ohh, that's pretty cool. I like that.

I know what you mean about picking names!

Its pronounced "cooks".

I'm also American and it's true it's rarely used except to abuse women and in a very hateful way, like calling a black person the n word, so much prefer how little power it really has in the UK.

Did I come across as a tiny bit ... erm... peeved?

First we had all the Easter false etymologies that got me annoyed, now it's this.

There are plenty of other things for feminists to use, without resorting to making it up. If you do, then sooner or later someone knowledgeable me will come along and point out where you are wrong and it just makes the whole thing look silly. And detracts from the whole message you are trying to put across.

And annoys us pernickety etymology types who may be a little bit obsessed

Ah. Sorry for linking to that, I'm such a CUNT.

We are all a fine bunch of cunts.

I've performed in VDay production of the Vagina Monologues, getting an audience of 300 people (including my Dad) shouting 'Cunt' when I did the 'reclaiming cunt' monologue, is one of the highlights of my life. :o