Why is “C*nt” considered offensive in america? ,
As a european who learned english from speaking to and watching youtube videos of british and australian people online I always wondered why americans were so offended by a word that doesn't mean anything more "offensive" than calling someone a dick or an asshole. Especially considering how normalized the word is in australian or even scottish english.
Is there any particular reason for it?
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As a european who learned english from speaking to and watching youtube videos of british and australian people online I always wondered why americans were so offended by a word that doesn't mean anything more "offensive" than calling someone a dick or an asshole. Especially considering how normalized the word is in australian or even scottish english.
Is there any particular reason for it?
It’s intended almost exclusively in the US as a vulgar insult for women that makes direct reference to their genitalia. It’s considered much worse than other common gendered insults like “bitch” or “whore” which some people find to be more vague or general. A lot of Americans are frankly baffled that it’s commonly used and may even be a term of endearment in places like Australia or the UK.
European can mean a lot of countries and this a lot of languages. The German translation for Cunt is Fotze which is a derogatory term for vagina and also used as a misogynist insult for women.
Because the culture and language reflect different cultural norms. The states and other English speaking countries have different cultures, different slang words, different accents, and differ in dialect. Just because English is the common language doesn’t mean they are the same.
The same is true with Spanish. Curse words are not the same in all Spanish speaking countries.
For the same reason that Bugger is a insult in England but not in America
I think a lot of people misunderstand the offensiveness of “cunt” In Australia. A lot of Aussies like to get online and tell the world that we sling around “cunt” without a care in the world and it’s playful and joyful and everyone has a laugh. It’s not like that.
Between my friends it’s ok. In blue collar work environments it’s ok (unless you’re being nasty to someone). In professional settings, conversations between people you don’t know, around family, it’s definitely not ok.
In fact, it’s more not ok than ok. Like, I’m not going to call my wife a silly cunt. But I might call my best mate that.
TL;DR – there’s more nuance to the Aussie myth that “cunt” is a playful word in Australia.
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To flip the script, I was flabbergasted that “wanker” was censored on the radio in New Zealand. It means nothing in the States.
I’d like to throw in a caveat here as a Brit and say that in the vast majority of adult circles in the UK, it is absolutely not considered okay to bandy around the word “cunt”.
Do it in a professional setting for example and you might very well be scheduled in for a meeting with HR.
It’s undeniably considered a very rude word and used to be an offensive term used specifically against women. It’s always considered a far more nasty word than “dick” or “arsehole”. The lads down the pub might say it to each other in jest if they know each other well, and perhaps you’ll hear it in a few comedy shows, but otherwise it is considered extremely immature/edgy/offensive by wider society in the UK.
I pretty exclusively exist in sub-30 queer spaces, so I guess my experience with it is different than a good bit of Americans. A lot of us use it as a positive. “It’s giving c*nt” or “that’s so c*nty” are things we say to signify that something is I guess, fashionable/iconic/etc? Think like the way “slayy” is used lmao. I guess it’s being reclaimed the way “queer” and “fruity” were/are being reclaimed.
It IS offensive in Australia and England- it’s harsher than calling someone a dick. However it also is very dependent on circumstance and your relationship with the people. Calling someone C*** when they’re your friend is entirely different to using when they’ve just cut you off in traffic.
To be fair, it’s a pretty horrible word in England too if you use it as a genuine insult. It’s definitely the worst swear word I can think of. I personally wouldn’t mind if someone used it jokingly, but I would never call a woman a cunt as a joke and I don’t think many other Brits would. It’s still got the same connotation in America when used to insult someone, especially a woman. It’s essentially a gendered insult at its core, like bitch, but 100x worse.
I think in America there’s no history of it being used in any other way than as a particularly brutal insult, so it hits harder than it does in Britain and Australia.
We’re desensitized to other insults from exposure alone. Cunt is so … cunty. Saved for an occasion.
Maybe just accept what you already know:
It’s an offensive gendered slur. It has historically been used to oppress women. It is still used to oppress women and girls, and there is no male equivalent word that carries the same weight
Just like you wouldn’t use a racial slur, don’t use gendered slurs.
ummm….
first, it just is. Words and culture are like that—things get assigned a meaning and context and value
but second, it is a term that refers to the one body part that is regarded as most required to be secret, and it’s a very crude form of referring to it.
And it has been used, up until the internet brought us the UK/Aussie approach, ONLY to verbally attack women.
In a slightly less poisonous way than the n-word, the c-word has a history of being a weapon.
In fact, I would say that *un*like the N-word, the C-word has (until recently) been *exclusively* used as a weapon and an attack and a denigration.
It’s seen as way more degrading to women in the US, basically a gendered slur for women the way there are slurs for races
It’s a very offensive word for most women. It’s the most offensive word towards women. If I hear a guy use that word towards any woman, I’d never date him.
As a Scotsman I am trying my best to make it acceptable in America.
It’s a long lonely road I’ve chosen.
It is considered a curse word and is not part of our professional dialogue.
I’m Australian and I find it to be an offensive term.
I don’t know where this belief that Australians use the term as a jokey, mate reference. Anyone I know would be genuinely shocked if someone said it in conversation.
Unless it’s a Queensland thing…?
Calling someone a goof in Canada means they’re a pedo. IMO that is hilarious and weirder than the cunt thing in America.
It comes off as way more harsh here. Mean that’s a problem I have with the subject of insults to women, I call a guy dick and it’s considered fairly mild but the nearest thing I have for a woman is like bitch or something which is way worse sounding than just dick is, if that makes sense
I wouldn’t be throwing cunt around like punctuation in the UK either. It might be fine to say around your mates but seriously you’re not going to be impressing anyone by saying cunt in public.
Swearing is fine, it’s the spice to language, but the impact is best when used strategically.
And yet they have no issue with someone being called a pussy. Weird cunts.
because they are a bunch of twats
Just to be clear, cunt is also the most offensive swear word in British/Australian English. But there is less of a taboo about swearing in general in those countries.
That word in America is only used by people wanting to be especially venomous toward a woman. Therefore, it’s considered a misogynistic slur. No one says it here unless they are trying to be very hateful.
Therefore, because of the motivations behind the word, it is considered a slur here.
Cunt isn’t really a playful word in England like it is in Australia, it’s pretty much only got negative connotations connected to it. We don’t call people cunts joking really, it’s used to cause offence
30 Rock said it best “there is no male equivalent for the word”. So it is especially misogynistic. I reserve this word for the absolute worst women and probably use it once or twice a year, at most.
Its hard to say exactly why, but I’ve known since I was a kid in the 80s that it’s one of the absolute worst words that you can call another person. Almost on par with the N word.
It’s also considered one of the trashiest terms for a vagina that you can use as well. Just a word used in poor taste every time.
Well is it a compliment?
I’m sure it you tried really hard, you could come up with more creative and offensive words for an American woman. Have fun with it!
Because of the implications.
There is one sort-of exception in US English—”serving c*nt” and being “c*nty” are positive, and mean that someone has a powerful (feminine) presence. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrT6Z5DNpx8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrT6Z5DNpx8)
It’s reserved for the worst of the worst. I’ve only known two women I’d apply that title. I think that’s what makes it so vile. It’s intended to hurt.
There are dialect and cultural differences between UK and US. One could just as easily ask why americans are for ever using the word fanny (which to English speakers is another word meaning vagina). Or the near ubiquitous use in US of the word ass which means, to them, arse and elsewhere means donkey. The way in which a word is used, or has been used historically, within a particular social setting will, of course, affect the perception of that word.
Because it’s ONLY used as an insult here. We don’t really use it to refer to the genital area here, even if we know what it means. So like the N word, the only time you hear it from most people is to be edgy or intentionally hurtful.
I used to hear it all the time growing up in the US, but it was always 100% aimed at demeaning a woman. When I got to the UK the first time, I was stunned at how often I heard it, and then I learned about how everyone could be one, not just women. But it’s not a thing in the US. It’s never mentioned in jest.
When I was about 10 or so, my parents and another couple used to drink like fish and play pinochle constantly. The other guy was just the biggest POS I’d ever met. Super violent. Called my mom a c*** and my dad a whoremaster during a game of cards one night, and I swore I was going to stab the bastard with my pudding spoon.
He was later killed by state cops holding the shotgun he stole from my dad for acting like a c*** and threatening people. Sick animal, but that’s the kind of man that uses the term on the regular in the US.