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Cunt is an English vulgarism most commonly used in referring to the vulva, the vagina, and, more generally, the pubis, from the mons veneris to the perineum. The earliest citation of this usage, circa 1230, is in the Oxford English Dictionary, referring to the London street known as "Gropecunt Lane"; as the word "cunt" has been incorporated into the colloquial and technical speech of nautical and other occupational traditions.

Generally, cunt is considered an obscene word and, therefore, greatly offensive; although, as with all verbal profanities, some speakers regard it as merely informal. Calling someone 'a cunt' is generally considered very offensive. A comparable vulgarism is pussy, specifically used to refer to the vulva and the vagina, and generally considered less offensive than "cunt". Although, pussy is a word also used occasionaly when men find it horny to themselves.

'Cunt' sometimes is used as a unspecific derogatory epithet in referring to either sex (in Australian English, specifically male; the Macquarie Dictionary defines cunt as "a despicable man"), in which case the usage is synecdoche. Its usage as vulgar insult is, however, a relatively recent development, the earliest citation dating from 1929.. An example where it may be used is "what ya'doin'cunt" or "look at this mad cunt"

The term also has various other uses (see usage below).

Etymology

Cunt derives from a Germanic word (Proto-Germanic *kunton), which appeared as kunta in Old Norse. The Proto-Germanic form itself is of uncertain origin. In Middle English it appeared with many different spellings such as queynte, which did not always reflect the actual pronunciation of the word. There are cognates in most Germanic languages, such as the Swedish, Faroese and Old Norwegian kunta, Frisian kunte, Dutch kut, and German kott. While kont in Dutch refers to the buttocks, kut is considered far less offensive in Dutch speaking areas than cunt is in the English speaking world. However, kont, the Afrikaans equivalent of cunt, is considered even more offensive to Afrikaans speakers than cunt is to English speakers.

The etymology of the Proto-Germanic term is disputed. It may have arisen by Grimm's law operating on the Proto-Indo-European root *gen/gon = "create, become" seen in gonads, genital, gamete, genetics, gene, or the Proto-Indo-European root *gneH₂/guneH₂ = "woman" seen in gynaecology. Relationships to similar-sounding words such as the Latin cunnus (vulva), and its derivatives French con, and Spanish coño have not been conclusively demonstrated. Other Latin words related to cunnus: cuneatus, wedge-shaped; cuneo v. fasten with a wedge; (figurative) to wedge in, squeeze in, leading to English words like cuneiform (wedge-shaped).

Vulgarity and offensiveness

Its connotations are so strong that it may arguably be the most offensive word in the English language—perhaps more so in the United States than in other English-speaking countries. In fact, some commentators argue that the growing acceptance (as they see it) of the word fuck in print and broadcast media has rendered cunt the last genuinely unprintable and unutterable expletive.

On the other hand, this rule is far from universal. In certain circles the word is considered merely a common profanity with an often humorous connotation. For example, in Australia, Ireland and among some Europeans who speak English as a second language, the word may be used as a colloquial term of endearment (e.g., in such phrases as "You're a funny cunt!" or "Sick cunt!"). Moreover, there is an increasing number of instances of the term both in print and in speech, usually in derogatory reference to a person rather than to the anatomical part.

Usage: pre-20th century

Cunt has been in common use in its anatomical meaning since at least the 13th century. It did not appear in any major dictionary of the English language from 1795 to 1961, when it was included in Webster's Third New International Dictionary with the comment "usu. considered obscene". Its first appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1972, which cites the word as having been in use since 1230 in what was supposedly a current London street name of "Gropecunte Lane."

The word appears several times in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (c. 1390), in bawdy contexts, but it does not appear to be considered obscene at this point, since it is used openly. A notable use is from the Miller's Tale "Pryvely he caught her by the queynte." The Wife of Bath also uses this term, "For certeyn, olde dotard, by your leave/You shall have queynte right enough at eve . . . What aileth you to grouche thus and groan?/Is it for ye would have my queynte alone?" In modernised versions of these passages the word "queynte" is usually translated simply as "cunt" . However, in Chaucer's usage there seems to be an overlap between the words "cunt" and "quaint" (possibly derived from the Latin for "known"). "Quaint" was probably pronounced in Middle English in much the same way as "cunt." It is sometimes unclear whether the two words were thought of as distinct from one another. Elsewhere in Chaucer's work the word queynte seems to be used with meaning comparable to the modern "quaint" (charming, appealing).

By Shakespeare's day, the word seems to have become obscene. Although Shakespeare does not use the word explicitly (or with derogatory meaning) in his plays, he still plays with it, using wordplay to sneak it in obliquely. In Act III, Scene 2, of Hamlet, as the castle's residents are settling in to watch the play-within-the-play, Hamlet asks Ophelia, "Lady, shall I lie in your lap?" Ophelia, of course, replies, "No, my lord." Hamlet, feigning shock, says, "Do you think I meant country matters?" Then, to drive home the point that the accent is definitely on the first syllable of country, Shakespeare has Hamlet say, "That's a fair thought, to lie between maids' legs." Also see Twelfth Night (Act II, Scene V): "There be her very Cs, her Us, and her Ts: and thus makes she her great Ps." A related scene occurs in Henry V: when Katherine is learning English, she is appalled at the "gros et impudique" English words "foot" and "gown," which her English teacher has mispronounced as "coun." Presumably Shakespeare intends to suggest that she has misheard "foot" as "foutre" (French, "fuck") and "coun" as "con" (French, "idiot," although literally "cunt"). Similarly John Donne alludes to the obscene meaning of the word without being explicit in his poem The Good-Morrow, referring to sucking on "country pleasures".

The 1675 Restoration comedy The Country Wife also features such wordplay, even in its title.

By the 17th century a softer form of the word, "cunny," came into use. A well known use of this derivation can be found on the 25th October 1668 entry of the diary of Samuel Pepys. He was discovered having an affair with Deborah Willet: he wrote that his wife "coming up suddenly, did find me imbracing the girl con my hand sub su coats; and endeed I was with my main in her cunny. I was at a wonderful loss upon it and the girl also....".

Cunny was probably derived from a pun on "coney", meaning "rabbit", rather as "pussy" is connected to the same term for a cat. (Philip Massinger: "A pox upon your Christian cockatrices They cry, like poulterers' wives, 'No money, no coney.'") Largely because of this usage, the word "coney" to refer to rabbits changed pronunciation from short "o" (like money and honey) to long "o" (cone, as in Coney Island), and has now almost completely disappeared from most dialects of English; in the same way the word "pussy" is now rarely used in America to refer to a cat.

Usage: modern

Referring to genitalia

Considered highly taboo, this usage rarely appears in the media or in polite conversation.

In the director's cut of the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs, as Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) approaches Hannibal Lecter's (Anthony Hopkins's) cell for the first time, the inmate in the next cell ("Migs") says to Clarice, "I can smell your cunt", although this is almost always edited to "I can smell your scent" in any televised versions of the movie. Considering the violent nature of this film, the editing out of the word "cunt" shows the taboo nature of the word as describing the vulva and/or vagina.

Referring to women

In referring to a woman, "cunt" is a derogatory or abusive term, often considered the most offensive word that can be used in this context. It can imply that the named person is extremely nasty and unpleasant in a way that exceeds the vehemence of the word "bitch". In the film One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, the central character McMurphy, when pressed to explain exactly why he doesn't like the tyrannical Nurse Ratched, says: "She's something of a cunt, ain't she, Doc?" It can also imply that women are useful only for having vaginas and thus serve no purpose save sexual gratification. Comedian David Cross uses the word to describe Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in his 2004 stand-up comedy album titled It's Not Funny. I saw this ad for electric scissors during an episode of "The Simple Life." Which is a show that glorifies these two rich, giggling cunts, who have no respect for anyone, and get away with anything.

It is sometimes used, somewhat less abusively, in vulgar reference to supposed female inferiority: "Why should I let some dumb cunt tell me what to do?"

In typical North American slang, the word "bitch" implies an aggressive nature, whereas the word "pussy" typically implies weakness. Although the word "cunt" is synonymous with the word "pussy", in terms of connotation, it is more closely related to the word "bitch".

In 2004, University of Colorado president Elizabeth Hoffman fanned the flames of a football rape case when, during a deposition, she was asked if she thought "cunt" was a "filthy and vile" word. She replied that it was a "swear word" but had "actually heard it used as a term of endearment". A spokesperson later clarified that Hoffman meant the word had polite meanings in its original use centuries ago. In the rape case, a CU football player had allegedly called female player Katie Hnida a "fucking lovely cunt".

Referring to men

Whilst normally derogatory in the USA, in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and to a lesser extent, the UK, it can have an informal comic quality and even be used as a term of endearment. Like the word fuck, use between youths is often socially frowned upon. For example, the phrases "How about I buy you a beer, you big cunt?" or "He's a good cunt" can be easily taken without any offence and quite possibly with a hint of affection.

Usage in England

The English comedy film Shaun of the Dead, in which one character, Ed, says to a group of four people (which includes his best friend Shaun, Shaun's girlfriend and her friends) in a very light-hearted and casual manner: "Can I get any of you cunts a drink?" shows it can be used as a term of endearment in England, although the word cunt still mainly remains the one word in the English language that is considered more offensive than 'fuck' - this can be largely attributed to its history as a misogynist instrument, a history that elevates it's offensiveness above that of rival 'four-letter words'. It is, perhaps, the only term which is offensive as a sexual swear word and as a politically-incorrect one. It can be said that the offensiveness depends on the context of its use.

Usage in Scotland and Ireland

Cunt is used extensively in Scotland and Ireland in a non-derogatory way to simply refer to a person when no insult is intended. For example, "Any cunt kens that!" or "That poor old cunt was just minding his business when the bus ran over him" or "there's no cunt here," to mean "there's no one here." Or, as Frances Begbie says in the film Trainspotting, "It's fuckin' obvious that cunt wair gaunnae fuck some cunt".

However, to address someone as cunt with no words added to indicate any warmth between people, eg. "hey cunt", "c'mere (come here) cunt" would be considered very aggressive. As in many other countries it is the context of the words use that makes the difference.

Usage in the United States

While a small cohort of Anglophilic Americans are aware of the term's much reduced offensiveness in Scotland, Ireland, England, and Australia, the word cunt remains in America the one word that is so offensive as to be customarily unspeakable. The usage is quite different from other English-speaking countries; in the United States the word solely refers to a woman's genitals or to the woman herself. It is typically used hatefully to refer to the woman herself: "I'm going to kill that cunt for cheating on me." Referring to the vulva, it is rarely but occasionally used by men telling tales: "And then she spread out that cunt for me." The word is rarely used in mixed company.

The word is occasionally used by females to refer to their own genitalia, sometimes as a form of dirty talk and occasionally as a standard term preferred over the undignified pussy and the clinical vulva and vagina.

Referring to inanimate objects

Cunt is used extensively in Australia, Ireland and also in some parts of Scotland as a replacement noun, more commonly among males and the working classes, similar to the use of motherfucker or son of a bitch among some Americans in extremely casual settings. For instance, "The cunt won't start," in reference to an automobile; or "Pass me that cunt," meaning "Pass me that item I need"; or "Those cunts down the road," referring to people in the vicinity. When used in this sense, the word does not necessarily imply contempt nor is it necessarily intended to be offensive.

Complimentary

In New Zealand and Australia the term "good cunt" is often used as a compliment. As in "you are a good cunt" or "he's a good cunt eh?". "Mad cunt" and "sick cunt" are also used. The term is usually used to refer to men but sometimes for women as well. The term is also used extensively in a non-derogatory manner as well as in "The poor cunt can't cop a break". "

Other uses

The word is sometimes used as a general expletive to show frustration, annoyance or anger. "I've had a cunt of a day!" or "This is a cunt to finish."

Australians have a habit of pairing the word with another to give a more specific meaning or simply a greater effect. Common examples include: cuntstomer (merger with the word "customer", used in retail when "off the floor" to describe a problem customer; cuntstable (merger with constable, to denote a police officer); and cunt-rash (visible disorder of the female genitalia, again normally a general insult). The phrase "sick cunt" is sometimes used as a compliment by such sub-groups as Australian surfers; e.g., "Man, that guy can charge the goon—he is a sick cunt." (Ironically, this term, though having become common Aussie parlance, originated within non-Anglo groups—particularly those of Arab descent—who combined their use of the term "sick" with what they saw as a typically Aussie expletive.) The term "cunt-rag" is often used to refer to people in derogatory manner; e.g., "I hate that guy, he's such a cunt-rag." Some have suggested that this refers to the use of "rag" as a slang term for the sanitary pads used to absorb menstrual blood, as in the term "She is on the rag."

"Cunt" may also be used as an acronym to describe a stupid person, body of people, or thing. C.U.N.T. can stand for: "Can't Understand Normal Thinking," and is used this way in the Southeastern United States. "C U Next Tuesday" has been used in England as well.

A modern derivative adjective, "cuntish" (alternatively, "cuntacious"), meaning "frustrating," "awkward" or (when describing behavior) "selfish," is increasingly used in England and has begun to appear in other regions, such as Scotland and Ireland. Another one, gaining popularity amongst clubbers, is "cunted", meaning "incoherent," "intoxicated" or "exhausted."

"Cunting" is routinely used as an intensifying modifier, much like "fucking." It can also be used as a slang term for 'criticism' i.e "Did you see the cunting he got for saying that?", possibly a derivative of "slagging" or "slagging off" used in British slang.

The word "cunty" is also known, although used rarely: a famous line from Hanif Kureishi's My Beautiful Laundrette is the definition of England by a Pakistani immigrant as "eating hot buttered toast with cunty fingers," suggestive of hypocrisy and a hidden sordidness or immorality behind the country's quaint facade. The term was originally attributed to British novelist Henry Green .

There are also other forms of the vernacular such as "King Cunty" and "Cuntis Maximus" that are used by a small group of Australians that implies a term of respect or leadership. "Cuntox" is employed as a term of derision.

Also used in the expression "I'll cunt you up," meaning "I'll make you look like a cunt" (i.e., through physical or verbal humiliation). Another phrase originating in London is "cunted in the bastard" meaning to have been hit in a non-specific area of the body.

The term "sad cunt" has gained popularity recently in areas of Ireland and Australia. It is believed to have initiated from the complimentary slang term "mad cunt." The pervasiveness of this term is intensified through the juxtapositoning of the adjectives "sad" and "mad." "Sad cunt" is effectively the opposite of "mad cunt" and is used to direct shame onto someone who has committed an act unbecoming of good citizenship.

The term is now adapted to suit a number of situations, particularly for youth involved in the alternative music scene in England. "Cunted" can mean to be extremely under the influence of drink and/or drugs. "Going cunting" means going out looking to pick up girls, as an alternative to "going on the pull", and a pun on the word "hunting".

Feminist viewpoints

Some feminists seek to reclaim cunt as an acceptable word for the female genitalia, in the interest of removing the power associated with its use. Some abhor the word and regard it, based on its more recent connotation, as degrading and misogynistic. It has also been suggested that "vagina" is equally offensive as it literally means "scabbard" in Latin , and is in any case incorrect as a term for the external female genitalia.

Some reject an exclusively negative connotation as inherently sexist towards women, and claim that insult is an inappropriate usage for a word used to epitomise femaleness.

Critics of the word claim that the lack of any comparable term for the male genitalia demonstrates a profound cultural contempt, not only for specific females, but for women in general. Defenders of the word argue that terms for male genitals are used in an equally insulting way, though they claim the degree of this "equivalence" differs between English speaking cultures (examples include "cock", "prick", "dick-head", "utter balls" (or "bollocks") , etc). However, these words generally aren't held to be as offensive or taboo as cunt. Despite these criticisms, there is a small movement amongst some feminists that seek to reclaim cunt as an honorific, in much the same way that "queer" has been reclaimed by homosexuals . Proponents include Inga Muscio in her book, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence, and Eve Ensler in her monologue "Reclaiming Cunt" (from "The Vagina Monologues").

The word was similarly reclaimed by Angela Carter who used it in the title story of "The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories"; a female character describing female genitalia in a pornography book: “her cunt a split fig below the great globes of her buttocks”.

More recently, Germaine Greer, who had previously published a magazine article entitled Lady, Love Your Cunt, discussed the origins, usage and power of the word in the BBC series Balderdash and Piffle, which examines the etymology of many English words and phrases, most especially those whose origins have limited written evidence (required to be included as citations in the Oxford English Dictionary). Greer suggests at the end of the piece that there is something precious about the word, in that it is now one of the few remaining words in English that still retains its power to shock.

Breaking taboo

The taboo status of the word has been the cause of many deliberate challenges: in January 2005, the BBC courted controversy after it broadcast Jerry Springer - The Opera on British television. The performance included the phrase "cunting, cunting, cunting, cunting cunt" (a description of the Devil). This echoed appearances in well-known US movies and TV shows, such as Taxi Driver and Saturday Night Fever. The horror movie, The Exorcist, included the line: "Cunting hun" uttered by the character Burke Dennings, and the Tom Selleck film An Innocent Man saw a female character referred to as "your crusading cunt of a wife", while Ricky Roma (Al Pacino) says to Williamson (Kevin Spacey), after the latter has just spoiled a lucrative deal for Roma, "You stupid fucking cunt, you idiot!" in Glengarry Glen Ross. The word was used repeatedly in the 1996 film Trainspotting and also in Irvine Welsh's novel on which it was based. In the latter case, the word is used so indescriminately and in all contexts that its offensive qualities become gradually neutralized.

The critically acclaimed HBO TV shows Oz,Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Deadwood, and The Wire also make frequent use of the word; and two episodes of the sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm ("Beloved Aunt" and "The Shrimp Incident") are devoted to the comical repercussions of its inadvertent use. Another HBO program Lucky Louie, featured an episode ("Flowers for Kim") revolving around Louie ruining his entire weekend by calling his wife a cunt. Notably, in the Oz episode Losing Your Appeal, the word was used 8 times in one minute.

In The Silence of the Lambs, the memorable scene when Agent Starling meets Dr. Hannibal Lecter for the first time, she has to walk past several cells full of the most psychotic criminals known to humanity. One nasty individual - "Multiple Miggs" - comes up to the bars of his cell and says to Agent Starling "I can smell your cunt."

"I, myself, cannot." replies Lecter when told of the claim. In versions of the film edited for TV the word is dubbed with the word scent, removing almost entirely the disturbing aspects of the encounter, from Clarice's viewpoint.

The 2002 film Run Ronnie Run has Jack Black portraying a chimney sweep who sings "The Golden Song" with the line "a kick in the cunt". The word is used 5 times in the song.

The climax of Kill Bill, Volume 2 - the dying Bill makes some affectionate remarks to the Bride but concludes that she "can be a real cunt." In The Inside Man, the Mayor of New York states "You're a magnificent cunt, aren't you, Miss White," to Jodie Foster's character, Madeliene White. Finally, the movie The Way of the Gun highlights phrase: "Shut that cunt's mouth or I'll come over there and fuck-start her head," in the opening sequence.

Double act Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are often credited with having made the word more acceptable and accessible in the United Kingdom in the 20th century through their Derek and Clive dialogues. In one sketch from 1976 called "This Bloke Came Up To Me", the word is used 31 times in the course of two minutes.

The first time the word was used on television was by Felix Dennis in 1970 on the The Frost Programme. It was Bernard Manning who first said on television the much-copied line "They say you are what you eat. I'm a cunt."

Some 30 years later, it was used by the model Caprice Bourret while being interviewed live about her role in The Vagina Monologues in the UK daytime programme This Morning.

It was used extensively in the New Zealand cult TV series "Back Of The Y". Of particular note is host Danny Parker's weekly closing line "I'll see you cunts next week".

The black metal band Cradle of Filth printed a shirt depicting a nun masturbating with a crucifix on the front, and on the back, in big white letters, reads: "JESUS IS A CUNT". This shirt has sparked much controversy, mostly in their home country of Great Britain, where a fan was arrested for wearing it in public, as was their former drummer in Russia. They continue to print the shirt, championing their right to free speech.

The UK Channel 4 series Peep Show in 2007 used the word to describe getting drunk. "Lets get cunted".

Variants and derivatives

Various euphemisms, minced forms and in-jokes derive from or signify "cunt".

Spoonerisms

• Cunny Funt - An amusing individual
• Cunning Runt - spoonerism derived from the punchline of a well-known joke: What's the difference between a tribe of pygmies and a girl's track team? The tribe is a bunch of cunning runts...
• Condescending Runt is used by Linda La Hughes in Gimme Gimme Gimme.
• Cunning Stunt - Originally from a dirty joke: What's the difference between a circus and a strip club? The circus has a bunch of cunning stunts... "Cunning Stunts" is also the name of a Metallica CD/Video compilation release. However it first appears as an album title by the English band Caravan ]who released "Cunning Stunts" in July 1975
• Kenny Everett introduced a female character in his TV shows, which aired during "family viewing time", called Cupid Stunt and got away with it.
• Graffiti has appeared around Sydney at times claiming, "John Hunt is a Coward", a spooneristic reference to the Australian prime minister, John Howard.
• British Comedian Al Murray hosted a comedy game show called "Fact Hunt", originally a cameo feature in his show "Time gentlemen please"

Initialisms

• Cambridge University Netball Team - This may be apocryphal that this ever existed as a title, also:
• City University of Newcastle upon Tyne did exist at its inception, but was only noticed when the stationery was produced...
• Caring Understanding Nineties Type - As in "He's not so much a Sensitive New Age Guy (SNAG) as a Caring Understanding Nineties Type (CUNT)."
• See you next Tuesday - C U Next Tuesday. Originating from the London area, but now having more widespread use, especially within the south of England. An example of usage would be: "Oh that bloke is such a see you next Tuesday". (It must be noted, however, that not many situations arise where one would want to refer to another as a cunt and not use the term itself.) Other versions include "See you next time" and "Catch you next Tuesday" (the latter appearing in an episode of "American Dad")
• Can't Understand Normal Thinking - "That woman has a problem, she just can't understand normal thinking".
• "Civilian Under Naval Training." - US Naval term.
• "Computer User, Non-Technical", "Computer User Needs Training", "Completely Unqualified Non-Technical Staff" - Used in the information technology field, referring to unsavvy users.
• Clark Unleashed Nineteen Tigers - reference to 80s BBC travelling lion tamer Daniel Clark.
• In Chewin' the Fat, a Scottish comedy programme, a character was wearing a shirt which spells C.N.U.T, which makes fun of F.C.U.K shirts (French Connection United Kingdom)
• Committee for Unstigmatised Nationally Televised Swearing - Used in the artswhole swearing special
• Citizens Uniting Negating Technology For Life And People's Safety - On a billboard in the PlayStation Portable Game, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
• Curtin University of New Technology - supposedly the name initially proposed for Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia.
• Critical Update Notification - the initial name for the Microsoft Windows Update engine, introduced with Windows 98. The agent was therefore often referred to in Microsoft literature as the Critical Update Notification Tool. This term was eventually dropped in favour of Automatic Updates, although references to it can still be found on Microsoft web sites. Whether this is due to Microsoft's realisation of the resultant acronym is unknown.

Puns

• See You, Auntie - When said aloud in a North American accent, the speaker sounds as if he's spelling "cunt". Published in the liner notes of Tool's album, Ænima.
• Mike Hunt - a normal-sounding gag name which when said quickly can sound like "my cunt". Used in a scene from the movie Porky's, and also a character in the BBC radio comedy Radio Active. It is also used in a scene of the book Trainspotting. The gag name may have originated and come into popular use, with the "Tube Bar" infamous prank phone calls.
• Eric Hunt - when said quickly can sound like "hairy cunt".
• "Cunt-ry music loving lady" - from comedy series Arrested Development
• "Cunt-ry Girl, take my hand..." Primal Scream's Country Girl
• The punk band NOFX say something similar on their song "Together on the sand" when the singer says "I had my finger up her, country music played on the radio"
• "Country matters" - from Shakespeare's Hamlet, as described above
• Mick Hunt - Lord's Cricket Ground curator
• TV comedian Steve Coogan made a number of jokes based around the word. In the second series of BBC 2's 'I'm Alan Partridge,' a scene featured a South African businessman, who had the line, "Alan - you can't," to which Alan Partridge replies, " well there's no need for that!" - playing on the sounding of the word 'can't' when spoken in an Afrikaans accent. In one of Coogan's stand-up routines, as 'Paul Calf', he comments, "They call Jean Claude Van Damme the Muscles from Brussels. Well they do the same with me..... I come from a place in Yorkshire called Munt"
• In the mid-90s, comedian Jasper Carrott - during his mainstream BBC 1 show - commented, whilst talking about cult figures - "Some people have called me a cult..... at least that's what I think they said."
• Stephen Fry famously defined countryside on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue as the act of 'murdering Piers Morgan'.
• Also in 'Chewin the Fat', a man would be out walking with his young son and would pass someone, for example, in an expensive cabriolet with the music blaring, and say, "Some people can and some people can't. He's a can't" (Sounds like "cunt" with a Glasgow accent)
• In Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Donna and Gaz are perusing erotic novels when they come across The Count of Monte Cristo. However, Gaz helpfully informs Donna that 'it doesn't say Count'
• English Country Tunes by Michael Finnissy composed in 1977, the title being a play on the words 'English Cunt re: Tunes'.
• Two lines from the animated series Family Guy, where Brian is talking to Quagmire about what's written on the side of his winnebago:

Brian: "Isn't there an 'o' in 'country'?"
Quagmire: "Nope!"

• In Dead Ringers, Jon Culshaw imitates James Blunt singing You're Beautiful including the alternate words; "And Morrissey keeps telling me James Blunt is rhyming slang".
• As recalled by former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam:

Never in the House did I use the word which comes to mind. The nearest I came to doing so was when Sir Winton Turnbull, a member of the cavalleria rusticana, was raving and ranting on the adjournment and shouted: "I am a Country member". I interjected "I remember". He could not understand why, for the first time in all the years he had been speaking in the House, there was instant and loud applause from both sides. I like to fuck cunts.

• See You in Toledo, euphemism used on radio's "The Don and Mike Show"
• On a first season episode of 30 Rock about Liz being called a word assumed to be "cunt" by a co-worker, an unrelated storyline has Tracy telling Jack, "see you in CT."
• On the TV program Arrested Development, the main character tells his brother to "get rid of the Seaward" (which is the name of a boat), while their mother overhears and assumes he is referring to her, as "the C-word".
• In Donald E. Westlake's "Help I Am Being Held Prisoner," the main protagonist is Harry Koont, generally misheard as hairy cunt, even though Harry helpfully explains that Koont has an umlaut over the o's, thrusting forward the tips of two fingers "as if blinding a midget."
• Western Australia alternative rock band 'The Sunday Cunts' is one of only a few bands to include the word 'Cunt' in the name of the band.

Rhyming slang

Various Cockney rhyming slang forms, which are considered only mildly risqué

• Berk - short for "Berkeley Hunt". "Berkshire Hunt"
• A "little All Quiet On The Western" was a phrase used by Australian TV personality Graham Kennedy, employing rhyming slang (from All Quiet on the Western Front).
• Roger Hunt - in reference to the 60's Liverpool and England forward.
• "Isaac Hunt" - another name that sounds like I's a cunt/I say cunt, or in colloquial slang in Northern England, sounds like 'He's a cunt' (pronounced eyes a cunt')
• Gareth Hunt - actor popular in the Seventies.

• James Hunt - Formula One World Champion in 1976, later a TV commentator, died 1993
• James Blunt - very new rhyming slang gaining acceptance in the United Kingdom. "He's a bit of a James", may refer to the singer's irritant value as much as to the rhyme
• "Robert Munt" - New rhyming slang, popular in the south east of England after the well known and notorious butcher Robert Munt. Many people now use the term "Munts" as a more polite way of referring to somebody as a "cunt" also the term "Robert" is used as in "He is such a Robert".
• "Struggle and Grunt" Used in the movie Green Street
• "Rex Hunt" Australian television fishing personality as in "What rhymes with punt and smells like fish?"
• "Drop kick and punt", commonly abbreviated to "dropkick" (originated in Australia). Example: "That bloke's a dead-set drop kick."

Colloquialisms

The term cunt hair can be used to signify a very small distance; an expansion of 'to move it a hair'. Slight variations may include 'red cunt hair' or RCH, or 'blonde cunt hair'. A chef may refer to vegetables being sliced 'thinner than a cunt hair' or a mechanic may direct a colleague to move a piece of equipment 'to the left just a cunt hair.'

Others

• Acid cunt a term of endearment used among those attending raves or other events where acid house may be played.
• Silly bunt - a joke in a Monty Python sketch, where a man with a speech impediment replaces the initial "c" consonant with "b" in all words.
• Punctuation cunt - drawn like so: \|/ (a type of ASCII art related to the emoticon)
• The name of the American grindcore band Anal Cunt. Upon getting signed to a bigger label, they shortened their name to AxCx.

Other meanings

The word "cunt" forms part of some technical terms used in seafaring and other industries.

Nautical usage

A cunt splice is a type of rope splice used to join two lines in the rigging of ships. The two ends are side spliced together with a gap between the two parts, forming a short section where the two lines lay side-by-side when taut. In recent times its name has been bowdlerised to "cut splice".

The Dictionary of Sea Terms, found within Dana's 1841 maritime compendium The Seaman's Friend, defines the word cuntline as "the space between the bilges of two casks, stowed side by side. Where one cask is set upon the cuntline between two others, they are stowed bilge and cuntline." The "bilge" of a barrel or cask is the widest point, so when stored together the two casks would produce a curved V-shaped gap.

The glossary of The Ashley Book of Knots by Clifford W. Ashley, first published in 1944, defines cuntlines as "the surface seams between the strands of a rope." Though referring to a different object than Dana's definition, it similarly describes the crease formed by two abutting cylinders.

In the Media

In the recent 2006 film, The Departed , Mark Walberg's character asks DiCiaprio's character whether he thinks the Boston Police Undercover Unit are "CUNTS", then cusses him out.

US military usage

U.S. military men refer privately to a common uniform item, a folded cover (hat) with a seam at the front and back, an opening along the top, and major and minor invagination, as a cunt cap. The proper name for the item is garrison cap or overseas cap, depending on the organization in which it is worn. The cap is widely available as an ex-USSR (and satellite state) surplus item in Army/Navy stores. The Russian name being a "pilotka". It is also in use in the United States Armed Forces, notably in the United States Air Force as part of its dress uniform and service dress uniform, and in the U.S. Army from World War I until the 1960s. The cap has also been part of U.S. Navy and Marine Corps uniforms, and was used by the Boy Scouts of America up until the mid 1980s when the uniform was redesigned.

Hot-metal printing

In the traditional hot-metal printing industry, a cunt lead was a term that was formerly used to describe a small additional inter-line gap, usually of less than 1pt. The term is derived from the term leading which describes more generally inter-line gaps (from the strips of lead that were used to provide the separations).

Testimonials

"I'm a really big fan of cunt over words like pussy, and especially, vagina. The word has this great guttural sound that lets you get right into it. Pussy and vagina are really dirty words – you only ever hear really greasy men saying things like that. Cunt lets women be vulgar without being derogatory."

• Calista Flockhart, at a staging of The Vagina Monologues

"In that case, Calista, you are a skinny cunt with BDD issues. Now say Thank you."

• Jo Brand, discussing cheesy American actresses with bloated egos.

"Those words ('bullshit', 'prick', 'pissed off', 'fuck you', and 'cunt') are now liberated from shame. They're in the dictionary now, finally. And the reason they came to the dictionary, finally, was through continual usage. Enough guys said to their wives 'YOU CUNT!' Pow! And that's why it's in the dictionary now: C-u-n-t."

• Lenny Bruce, discussing the 1961 Webster's Third New International Dictionary

I use the word cunt a lot, because the only way to get through to the youth of today is to use words that will grab their attention"

• Plan B

Notes and references

1. Online Etymological Dictionary
2. Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, (London: Vintage, 1979 (1995)), p16 ISBN 0 09 958811 0.
3. anthologized in Germaine Greer, The Madwoman's Underclothes: Essays and Occasional Writings, (1986)
4. Urban Dictionary: Gareth Hunt
5. A dictionary of slang - "G" - Slang and colloquialisms of the UK.
6. Gareth Hunt is Cockney Rhyming Slang for …
7. Anonymous Dirty Cockney Rhyming Slang Michael O'Mara Books Ltd. ISBN 1-84317-035-3
8. William Falconer, An Universal Dictionary of the Marine (London: Thomas Cadell, 1780), 1243.
9. Richard Henry Dana, Jr., The Seaman's Friend: A Treatise on Practical Seamanship, 14th Edition (Boston: Thomas Groom & Co., 1879; Dover Republication 1997), 104.
10. Clifford W. Ashley, The Ashley Book of Knots (New York: Doubleday, 1944), 598.
11. Examples of Ashley's usage of "cuntline" are found in the descriptions for illustrations #3338 and #3351.

Further reading

• Inga Muscio, Cunt: A declaration of Independence
• Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets
• Cunt, a 1999 novel by Stewart Home
• Lady Love Your Cunt, 1969 article by Germaine Greer (see References above) and 1993 song by UK band SMASH
• The Kunda an article by Michael Lohr

External links

• The Etymology of Sexual Slang Terms
• Cunt: A Cultural History
• Yoni Yagna - Celebration of Cunt

Template:SevenDirtyWords

• Articles lacking sources from January 2007
• Pejorative terms for people
• Profanity
• Sexual slang