The C-word (yeah... that one)

I think language is really interesting and I especially like the way people react to certain language. There seems to be just a few words that evoke a guttural reaction of distaste and unease. The C-word is one such word. Having thought I knew what it meant, I was a bit shocked to find that the definition is very different based on locality and who is using it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunt There really is a lot more to it than I thought.
I was also sort of shocked that the wiki page for it was as long as it is. It's nearly double the length of the page for the word "bitch". For a word that we're not really supposed to use, it certainly has a lot of interesting characteristics.

I'm not advocating that we use it more... or less... just that maybe it's worth getting to know the word in more depth. When a word is hurtful, I'm of the mindset that we ought to find out why it hurts us and then try to construct ways to prevent it from hurting us in the future.

What do you think?
Did you know there was so much to that word?
Is that part of the reason we elevate it to such obscenity?

I think with every heavily taboo'd word it is a matter of historical use, and the issues that were imbedded in that usage. I personally do not get offended by high profile 'bad' words themselves, and may even use various ones from time to time. The worst of the choice words are the worst because they were used to degrade the humanity of certain groups, and usually still are used that way to varying degrees.

There is an element of respect that should be utilized if you don't want to get murdered for using the wrong choice word at the wrong time, even if it really is just a word. We as humans and language users are the ones who make the words powerful beyond other words. I think we elevate words that hurt people in the past, or belonged to other groups, or that people wrote about and made important in their ideologies. Another important aspect is that these words lose a lot of their power when people start to speak them freely, this c word would not have a shock and awe effect if everyone started using it.

I don't know how it's used elswhere, but here it's pretty common.
Sometimes directed at someone in the extremely negative way you might imagine,
but like other swear words it's often just dumped randomly in a sentence as a kind of intensifier.
In NZ the 'blue-collar workers' are aspecially keen on it
and men will use it as a kind of positive descriptor/enearment for other men- "he's a good XXX"
(and I say men on purpose-it's virtually never directed at or spoken by women. If it is, it's always really nasty.
Now I find that pretty interesting
A bit offtopic... I studied English Literature,and Chaucer was rather fond of 'queynte'
I'm sure I didn't know he was punning (queynte means “a clever or curious device or ornament” in Middle English)
and thought it was a totally acceptable word back then.
It was most probably more acceptable than now, but...

Best read in an Australian accent.

I read a long article about this word when I was in highschool. It talked all about the history and meaning of cunt and also vagina and penis and ever since I read that article I like the c word a lot. i almost never hear it anymore but in highschool once in a while a guy would call me or another female student this word to try and be mean but the result wold be me giving him a lesson about words and meanings and explaining that while I have one I also have a lot of other body pats and am a person. i also like that I believe penis is latin for tail. which is fitting but also sort of funny.

one reason I think I started to like this word and also the B word when I was in highschool was when a women was called it she was being strong and so while it was meant as an insult it sort of made the person trying to be mean look silly to me. because they where saying wow your really strong and it is frightening to me. that is how it seemed to me when I was young and in school.

This word and others reflect how uncomfortable society is with penises , vaginas, and the anus . 50 years after the sexual revolution and mentioning these words makes people squirm . Our own discomfort is the source of both the hurt and the comedy . Anxiety and then laughter for comedy . Anxiety and then pain for the hurt. Same mechanism . Our society highly praises work and intelligence . Thus we have phrases such as "Idle hands are the devils workshop" and "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" . For a little experiment substitute "cunt" for hands and mind in those sentences . See what I mean !