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How Do You Solve A Problem Like The C-Bomb?
New York, 9:18 AM
Tue Nov 24
65 posts in the last 24 hours
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How Do You Solve A Problem Like The C-Bomb? |
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04/03/09
04/03/09
I love cunt. It's a great word. It's not too many words that have that much impact anymore.
04/03/09
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04/03/09
Also, while I appreciate the actions of the reclaimers, to me it's sort of like putting up a nice monument on a massacre site. I'm glad someone did it, but it doesn't change anything, or redeem the hate. I'm not so sure it all isn't just an attempt to win hipster points for that sort of user, either.
It seems though, that Brits are using cunt as an all-purpose word right now. Mostly the venom and sting isn't there, I guess, but it can be with just a slight change in inflection, and allowing the word into general use seems like a terrifically bad idea to me. It's hard not to admire the rough Anglo-Saxon power of the word sound itself, but that temptation should be resisted. No matter how widespread they become, certain things just carry their own bad history around.
Of course, I grew up with my buddies and I calling each other "fags" at the drop of a hat. There was no intent to harm anyone, at least not with us. It just meant "unmanly, wimpy, with hints of scary homosexuality". Just what most insecure teen boys are most afraid of, really. We never made those jokes around our art teacher, it could have hurt his feelings. I plead being a teenager, as I haven't used that word since high school. Now kids are using "cunt" the same way, before that it was "retard". I suppose its a way to separate yourself from polite, or grown up society. I just wish it wasn't so freighted with words that actually brutalize people.
It's sort of like this "we're not really this racist/sexist/cruel" comedy right now. At a certain point you don't get to laugh off your nastiness as being cool. Sorry, but make enough jokes and you lose your "coolness" shield - you're just a swine.
Finally, my wife never calls vile men "dicks", she calls them jack-offs. No points to the patriarchy in that one.
04/03/09
Whoever first said 'words will never hurt you' was hopelessly naive.
04/03/09
Anyhow, I think its great that there are people younger than me who appear to have defanged several cruel words, but I'm going to stay in my own context to keep my self-respect. Most of these words are forbidden to me, with good historical reason. If anything its just a tiny bit of freight to pay, if not entirely logically consistent. I can't get behind the whining about it from some quarters.
04/02/09
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[www.nataliedee.com]
04/02/09
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04/02/09
I was once explained by a Brit that cunt is the worst possible insult ever, and should never ever be uttered, because it's: 'a dirty insult' , which prompts me to reclaim it.
@cuberat: couldn't have said it better
Also, why should a female genitalia insult like cunt or twat be such an unspeakable word with a 'dirty' connotation, especially since the etymology is rooted in a former clinical term for the female privates (from the latin cunnus)?
Funnily enough, in french the insult 'con' which is only used at men is the old french medical term for vajayjay, and is a rough equivalent to idiot / stupid o.0
04/02/09
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You probably don't want to ride with me, honestly.
04/02/09
I disagree with his decision to let them look at porn in his "office". I don't know the laws in New York state but here in California any school employee looking at pornographic material on a school computer can be fired and lose their credentials.
Lastly, it bothers me that the author used the word "cunt", regardless of whether or not I find the word offensive, simply because he did it to fit in with high school students. There is nothing sadder to me than an adult who wants children to think they're cool and "down" with slang.
I work with at-risk kids. If I can relate to my students without using pejorative words for the female anatomy, the author can too.
04/02/09
That being said, most of the douchenozzles who utter it are not well-meaning reclaimers. But I don't think that will stop me; as many commenters have pointed out, it's easily argued.
READ THE BOOK!
04/02/09
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04/02/09
Same thing with "dick" - are there men out there who are insulted because people are using male anatomy as an offensive word?? If so, you don't hear about it much.
On a side note, my husband is especially fond of referring to someone as a "cunt nugget."
04/02/09