Culture gaps can pose some interesting problems. Slang is can be a serious problem, especially when profanity is involved. This word means instant death to those who speak it in the company of women in America, but in Scotland the word is used as common slang meaning "guy". Found that little tidbit out while reading "Trainspotting". That dictionary in the back is the mostest! :)

Vulgar Slang:
     the vulva or vagina
     sexual intercourse with a woman
     a woman (a term of hostility and contempt)
     any unpleasant or contemptible person

From the Middle English cunte ("female genitals") which is akin to the Old Norse kunta and the Old Frisian, Middle Low German, and Middle Dutch kunte which are from the Germanic kunton.

Cunt a declaration of independence by Inga Muscio 

This book is about the history of the word, the stigma that surrounds the word and the body part. It strives to bring about an "understanding of, and reconciliation with - what it means to have a cunt." The exciting story telling style is what makes this book so wonderful. But there is also tons of great information along the way. She does have a few opinions that will be considered extreme by some but she readily admits that they are not for everyone. Basically she wants you to get the most pleasure out of your cunt as possible and learn what it has to teach you in your everyday life. This is also a great book for open minded guys who aren't freaked out about talk of periods and feminist ideas. I highly recommend you run out and buy a copy now.

The following excerpt takes place when the author's cousin's seven year old daughter (Mademoiselle Precious) comes to stay with her and her "Musical concubine" for a week.

An excerpt from Cunt

After a few minutes, Mlle. Precious says, "Everybody plays with their wahchee?"

My heart leaped in my chest. Oh, how I smiled inside.

"Yeah. Everybody."

"Do you?"


"Does your musical concubine?"


"My mom?"

"Probably. I mean, I would imagine. Just about everybody does, Precious. And it's perfectly fine if you do too. Even if people tell you it's bad, they're just scared or stupid. It's not bad at all and everybody plays with their wahchee."

She laughed crazy, absolutely thrilled, and yelled "Everybody plays with their wahchee?"

I screamed "Everybody plays with their wahchee!"

Cunt a declaration of independence
Copyright 2002 by Inga Muscio
Foreword Copyright 2002 by Betty Dodson
Introduction Copyright 2002 by Derrick Jensen

ISBN #1-58005-015-8
Published by Seal Press
An imprint of Avalon Publishing Group Inc.
161 William Street, 16th floor
New York, NY 10038

CST Approved
From reading the above, it would seem to me that either the word 'cunt' has lots of different meanings in lots of different places, or a lot of people are misguided. I'll assume the former.

Speaking for myself, as I understand it, the word 'cunt' has three separate meanings and usages in my area (Australia). I'll enumerate them:

  • As a noun, not always derogatory, referring to either the female vulva or vagina (note: these are two separate things!) - e.g. 'nothing like a warm, moist cunt'.
  • As an insult; the actual word when used as an insult probably means different things to different people. e.g. 'You miserable cunt!'. For my own part, I think that it gets used as an insult because it is obscene, forbidden, and has a meaty, 'chunky' sound. When this insult is used around me, it appears to mean, roughly, asshole, bastard, or prick - but being stronger than any of those.
  • As a placeholder, referring to a person of somewhat humble status - e.g. 'Hey! Which cunts' stolen my beer?' or 'Don't worry, the cunt'll be along later'.
AFAIK, this is the most potent and forbidden single word in the English language.

On a side note, I had the pleasure of teaching this most essential swear word to an otherwise innocent international student hailing from Asia while I was at university. My good deed for the day...

On another side note, a local radio station is allowed to say shit and fuck on-air, but cunt was verboten, having to be referred to as the C-word. This made it somewhat difficult for the station on one occasion where listeners were invited to ring in and discuss the term...
The final caller had an opinion that I think is worth sharing with you all:

"I don't see what all the fuss is about ... it's a nice, warm, fuzzy, furry thing that everyone loves and wants to get closer to."


It ain't rude!

The word 'cunt' is a leftover from pre-Norman English. I won't go into detail - I'll save the Evolution of the Language for another writeup - so all you need to know is this:

When the Normans invaded England in 1066, they spoke Norman French. The people of England spoke English, a language very close to German. Over time, the ruling classes, who were Norman, and the rest of England, the English, combined their languages. Because the Norman words, and the Latin writings, of the educated and ruling classes were considered cooler than English, Latin terms like 'vagina' were used instead of good old 'cunt'. Later, the English words were not just very lower-class, they were considered rude.

Cunt originally meant simply 'vagina' and the shift to obscenity is a confusing path to follow. In a poem I once read, possibly by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, a scathing look at the haute ton, contained the phrase "...who fucked who and who's a proper cunt". So for the upper classes, at least, this word was impolite, as was 'fuck'.

However, in D. H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover", the word cunt is used by Mellors, the lover, in a non-offensive way. He uses it to mean 'vagina' and also 'having sex' or 'making love'. He is from the north of England, and quite 'lower-class', and for him, the word cunt represented intimacy with Connie through sex.

This is the briefest account of the word cunt I can give. If you found this interesting, consult a history of linguistics and a good cultural history of England. Read "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and consult some of the stranger English poets.

1st June 2001: Of further note is the use of the word 'quaint' in English literature. This word is often used as a pun for 'cunt'. For example, in Andrew Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress', the phrase 'and thy quaint honour turn'd to dust' refers to her cunt. Other poets to consult on the matter include Shakespeare, John Donne and Jonathan Swift.

The third album by over the top shock humour grindcore gore band Blood Duster - the fourth if one counts Fisting the Dead. First released in 2000 by Dr Jim records and later by Relapse Records. Advertised by the band as "100% grinding death rock". The album is more of the same, which is good because on this album they're probably the best in the world at it. This release is obviously influenced by american band Anal Cunt. As you can probably guess this release comes with a warning sticker on it. This album, although in no way subtle, is brilliant: The riffs are memorable, the songs arranged well and the lyrics are hilarious.
Track listing follows:

16. SPEFEVEN (pronounced to rhyme with "eleven")

Buy it for your grandmother.

from L. cunnus "sheath" > IE *kut-no- > (s)keu- "conceal, cover"

see also pudendum, vulva.

Just to prove its origin isn't necessarily dirty or insulting. In fact, the words skew and gut have the exact same origins.
CentrX says re: cunt: The etymology of "cunt" is as I say in my writeup, according to Webster's New World College Dictinoary and the Oxford English Dictinoary, and in accord with the many Middle English citations given in the OED where "cunte" is used. While it is possible that both "cunnus" and "cunte" both ultimately derive from the same word, what evidence is there that "cunt" comes from "cunnus" (and so directly as it is indicated in your writeup.)

From my book Latin Sexual Terms, which is a rather in depth book about just that. According to the book, cunt is derived from cunnus, with Norman-French as the intermediary, not Old English.

Ah yes... Cunt, by Florian Himsl and Edmund McMillen, the shmup we all feared would exist one day. Either it's a puerile heap of borderline misogynistic pap, if you're a humourless killjoy prude, or, if you are, like me, a cunt, it's a work of brutal, depraved, demented, genius. Take your pick. I know which side of the fence I'd plump for (hint: the one that doesn't have frothers shouting "ban this sick filth" on it).

It works something like this - you control a floating disembodied penis that shoots bullets out its bell end and that is in orbit around a disembodied, planet-like anthropomorphic vagina. Your job is to shoot your bolts into the opening of same, which causes damage to it, and which, if you sling enough spooge up there, causes it to explode, which brings you to the next level. However, beware, for this is no querulous and quiescent quim, but a fierce fanny of forbidding fury which summons increasingly nasty sexually transmitted diseases to thwart your travails!

Yep, I'm certain that Sigmund Freud would have a lot to say about this game.

But I'm not going to get bogged down with psychological theorising and spouting sociopolitical bollox about it all. I'm here to tell you about this game, which is disturbingly compelling, and a work of twisted genius. Not because of its subject matter, but because of how it is presented. The vagina's eyes track you as you move round the screen. Powerups appear that you can grab to increase the efficacy of your pussy pounding. Grabbing a syringe full of roids causes your cock to go stumpy and fat and fire double-wide bullets. Penis enlargement pills give you what the game describes as "The Woodsman!" which removes your ability to spaff bullets but allows you to pretty much, well, demolish anything in your path. The STDs that are summoned to fend you off become increasingly nasty; level five (herpes), has not only double-speed homing bacteria but also sores that act as gun turrets on the lunar surface. And then in level six (AIDS), not only does it fire tough as nails viruses that clump together (and look like miniature vaginas themselves), but also it starts firing foetuses at you. (I wish I was making this us). And then there's the other, more unexpected, twists to the game, like how from time to time on later levels the titular cunt will start urinating and filling up the screen with same, and if you're caught underneath the rising tide then you drown and it's game over. And all along, the screen becomes a mass of squashed crabs and dead viruses and blood and spunk.

Cunt is certainly the only game to have, in its instructions, "shake the mouse to get bugs off your balls."

Oh, but did I mention the music? It's this rather unsettling soul duet called "Care" by a chap called Jon Erik Kaada, whose lyrics go something like, "My darling / You’re my inspiration / That’s why I put you / In almost all my conversation," on the male part, and then the female part comes in with something equally slushy and croony. Sounds all nice and inoffensive, right? Well, think about this. While this is going on, you, the player, are furiously mashing at the mouse in order to fill a giant vagina so full of semen that it explodes in a bloody mess. Do you understand now why this is so unsettling?

I dread to think what level six level seven is like. Probably Al Gore's face, that would fit the bill certainly (although my standards are not low enough to derive enjoyment from spunking in it; I am not that depraved. Yet.)

As always, if you find anything in this writeup offensive, boo fuckity hoo.

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