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==Usage: modern== ===As a term of abuse=== [[File:Only cunts comply sticker - 2022-01-13 - Andy Mabbett.jpg|thumb|"Only cunts comply!!!" - One of a series of anti-COVID-19 vaccination stickers [[Flyposting|fly-pasted]] onto a signboard advertising the availability of vaccines, at a health centre in Birmingham, England, during the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom|COVID-19 pandemic]].]] [[Merriam-Webster]] states it is a "usually disparaging and obscene" term for a woman,<ref name="Cunt 1"/> and that it is an "offensive way to refer to a woman" in the United States.<ref name="Cunt 2"/> In American [[slang]], the term can also be used to refer to "a fellow male homosexual one dislikes".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=Robert L. |date=1995 |title= The Macmillan Dictionary of American Slang |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-333-63405-9| page=91}}<br /> An example of usage given by the dictionary is {{Cite book |quote=And this one is from Max. The cunt. |author-link=Arthur Maling|last=Maling|first=Arthur |date=1978 |title= Lucky Devil|publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=978-0-06-012854-8| page=154}}</ref> Australian scholar Emma Alice Jane describes how the term as used on modern social media is an example of what she calls "gendered vitriol", and an example of [[Misogyny|misogynistic]] e-bile.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jane|first=Emma Alice|date=2014|title='Back to the kitchen, cunt': Speaking the unspeakable about online misogyny|journal=Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies|volume=28|issue=4|pages=558–570|doi=10.1080/10304312.2014.924479|s2cid=144492709|hdl=1959.4/unsworks_81563|hdl-access=free |issn = 1030-4312 }}</ref> As a broader derogatory term, it is comparable to ''[[Prick (slang)|prick]]'' and means "a fool, a dolt, an unpleasant person – of either sex".<ref name="Green1995"> {{Cite book|last1=Green |first1=Jonathon|title= The Macmillan Dictionary of Slang|edition=3rd|date=1995|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-333-63407-3|quote= a fool, a dolt, an unpleasant person – of either sex (cf: ''prick'')}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Ayto |first1=John|last2=Simpson|first2=John |title= The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang|date=2005|orig-year=1992|publisher=OUP|isbn=978-0-19-861052-6|quote= A foolish or despicable person, female or male}} </ref> This sense is common in New Zealand, British, and Australian English, where it is usually applied to men<ref>{{Cite book|last1= Thorne |first1= Tony |title= Dictionary of Contemporary Slang |url= https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcont0000thor |url-access= registration |edition=3rd|date=27 February 2014|publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4081-8181-2|quote=a very unpleasant person... more noticeable in British and Australian English... in practice the word is usually applied to men"}}</ref> or as referring ''specifically'' to "a despicable, contemptible or foolish" ''man''.<ref>{{Cite book|last1= Hughes |first1=Geoffrey| title= An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-Speaking World |date=2006|publisher= M. E. Sharpe Incorporated |isbn=978-0-7656-2954-8| quote= Random House (1994) is more gender-specific: 'a despicable, contemptible or foolish man'... "Donald, you are a real card-carrying cunt" (1968)}} Hughes is quoting {{Cite book|last1=Lighter |first1=Jonathan E.| title= Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Vol. 1: A-G|date=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2lHwkWMXaxwC|publisher= Random House |isbn=978-0-394-54427-4}} The original quotation is from {{Cite book|last1=Crowley |first1=Mart| title= The Boys in the Band |date=1968|page=42|publisher= Farrar, Straus & Giroux |asin= B0028OREKU}}</ref> During the 1971 [[Oz trial]] for obscenity, prosecuting [[barrister|counsel]] asked writer [[George Melly]], "Would you call your 10-year-old daughter a cunt?" Melly replied, "No, because I don't think she is."<ref name="Coren2003">{{cite news |last=Coren |first=Victoria |date=2 February 2003 |title=It's enough to make you cuss and blind |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/feb/02/broadcasting.comment |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=23 March 2008}}</ref> In the 1975 film ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)|One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'', the central character [[Randle McMurphy|McMurphy]], when pressed to explain exactly why he does not like the tyrannical Nurse Ratched, says, "Well, I don't want to break up the meeting or nothing, but she's something of a cunt, ain't she, Doc?"<ref name="CuckoosNest">{{cite web |title=One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Script – Dialogue Transcript |url=http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/o/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-script.html |publisher=Script-o-rama.com |access-date=18 December 2011}}</ref> ===Other usage=== In informal British, Irish, New Zealand, and Australian English, and occasionally but to a lesser extent in Canadian English, it can be used with no negative connotations to refer to a (usually male) person.<ref name="Green nice cunt">{{Cite book|title=Green's Dictionary of Slang|first=Jonathon |last=Green |volume=1 |publisher=Chambers |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-550-10443-4|pages=1454–1456 |url= https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/w7hgqcy |access-date=30 October 2016 |quote=a person, usu. male, with no negative implications ... Hello you old cunt}}</ref> In this sense, it may be modified by a positive qualifier (funny, clever, etc.).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Doyle |first1=Benny |title=Kirin J Callinan, TV on the Radio @ The Tivoli |url=https://themusic.com.au/article/tGCnpqmoq6o/tv-on-the-radio-tivoli-ben-doyle |access-date=1 May 2019 |work=TheMusic.com.au |date=11 June 2015 |archive-date=1 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501001021/https://themusic.com.au/article/tGCnpqmoq6o/tv-on-the-radio-tivoli-ben-doyle |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Irvine Welsh">For example, ''Glue'' by [[Irvine Welsh]], p. 266, "Billy can be a funny cunt, a great guy ...."</ref><ref name="slate">{{cite news |last1=Withers |first1=Rachel |title=Lady Bird Has Been Censored in Australia, a Country that Loves the C-Word |url=https://slate.com/culture/2018/03/australian-censors-cut-the-word-cunt-from-lady-bird-but-aussies-love-it-anyway.html |access-date=30 April 2019 |work=Slate |date=2 March 2018}}</ref> For example, "This is my mate Brian. He's a good cunt."<ref name="spinoff">{{cite news |last1=Braae |first1=Alex |title=Good c*nts and pōkokohua: What words do New Zealanders find most offensive? |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/19-07-2018/good-cnts-and-pokokohua-what-words-do-new-zealanders-find-most-offensive/ |access-date=30 April 2019 |work=The Spinoff |date=19 July 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Braier |first1=Rachel |title=In praise of the C-word |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2016/jul/11/in-praise-of-the-c-word |access-date=30 April 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=11 July 2016}}</ref> In [[Welsh language|Welsh]], {{lang|cy|cont}} (the Welsh equivalent) is sometimes used as a term of endearment, such as the phrase {{lang|cy|iawn cont}} ({{lit|okay cunt}}) in [[Caernarfon]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://clwbmalucachu.co.uk/cmc/cheat/cheat_swearing.htm | title=CLWB malu cachu }}</ref> It can also be used to refer to something very difficult or unpleasant (as in "a cunt of a job").<ref name="Green unpleasant cunt">{{Cite book|title=Green's Dictionary of Slang|first=Jonathon |last=Green |volume=1 |publisher=Chambers |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-550-10443-4|pages=1454–1456 |url= https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/w7hgqcy |access-date=30 October 2016 |quote=something very unpleasant or difficult to do or achieve ... She had a cunt of a job}}</ref> In the [[Survey of English Dialects]] the word was recorded in some areas as meaning "the vulva of a cow". This was pronounced as [kʌnt] in [[Devon]], and [kʊnt] in the [[Isle of Man]], [[Gloucestershire]] and [[Northumberland]]. Possibly related was the word ''cunny'' [kʌni], with the same meaning, in [[Wiltshire]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Upton |first1=Clive| last2=Parry| first2=David|last3=Widdowson| first3=JDA |title=Survey of English Dialects: the dictionary and the grammar |year=1994 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-02029-9 |page=108}}</ref> The word "cunty" is also known, although used rarely: a line from [[Hanif Kureishi]]'s ''[[My Beautiful Laundrette]]'' is the definition of England by a [[British Asian|Pakistani immigrant]] as "eating hot buttered toast with cunty fingers", suggestive of hypocrisy and a hidden sordidness or immorality behind the country's quaint façade. This term is attributed to British novelist [[Henry Green]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.theparisreview.org/media/GREEN.pdf#search=%22cunty%20fingers%22|title= The Art Of Fiction No. 22 – Henry Green|access-date=6 March 2008 |format= PDF|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080229021024/http://www.theparisreview.org/media/GREEN.pdf#search=%22cunty%20fingers%22 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date =29 February 2008}}</ref> In the United States, "cunty" is sometimes used in [[cross-dressing]] drag [[ball culture]] for a [[drag queen]] that "projects feminine beauty"<ref>Laurence Senelick, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DUk008nvuhgC The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre, Psychology Press, 2000], p. 505</ref> and was the title of a hit song by [[Kevin Aviance|Aviance]].<ref>José Esteban Muñoz, Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity, NYU Press, 30 November 2009, p. 74</ref> A visitor to a New York drag show tells of the emcee praising a queen with "cunty, cunty, cunty" as she walks past.<ref>David Valentine, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VOv-kTqi8tsC&q=cunty+transgender Imagining Transgender: An Ethnography of a Category, Duke University Press, 30 August 2007], p. 81</ref> Rapper [[Azealia Banks]] is known for her frequent usage of the word,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Interview: Azealia Banks | website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN93YnIsDNg&t=111s |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604150631/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN93YnIsDNg&t=111s |archive-date=4 June 2021 |access-date=20 January 2024}}</ref> and her fans are known as the Kunt Brigade.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=2015 Fan Army Face-Off |url=http://billboard.com/fan-army-bracket/ |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150829172950/http://www.billboard.com/fan-army-bracket/ |archive-date=29 August 2015 |access-date=20 January 2024 |magazine=Billboard}}</ref> She's said in one interview:<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=10 September 2012 |title=Q&A: Azealia Banks on Why the C-Word Is 'Feminine' |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/qa-azealia-banks-on-why-the-c-word-is-feminine-181176/ |access-date=20 January 2024 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref> {{Blockquote|text="To be cunty is to be feminine and to be, like, aware of yourself. Nobody's fucking with that inner strength and delicateness. The cunts, the gay men, adore that. My friends would say, "Oh you need to cunt it up! You're being too [[banjee]]."|source=}} In the 2020s, the phrase "[[serving cunt]]" (or to "serve cunt") became popular as a term for acting in a powerfully and unapologetically feminine manner.<ref>{{cite web|author=Gavia Baker-Whitelaw|title=What does 'serving c*nt' mean?|work=[[The Daily Dot]]|url=https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/serving-cnt-memes-explained/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629145345/https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/serving-cnt-memes-explained/|date=16 May 2023|archive-date=2023-06-29|quote=First off, while a lot of people still drop the C-word as a sexist pejorative, "serving cunt" is 100% complimentary. As we already mentioned, it started out as drag slang, typically describing a person with an aggressively cool, bold outfit and/or attitude.}}</ref> ===Frequency of use=== Frequency of use varies widely. According to research in 2013 and 2014 by [[Aston University]] and the [[University of South Carolina]], based on a corpus of nearly 9 billion words in geotagged [[Tweet (Twitter)|tweets]], the word was most frequently used in the United States in [[New England]] and was least frequently used in the south-eastern states.<ref>{{Cite news|work=The Guardian|date=17 July 2015|access-date=27 July 2015|title= Want to know how to curse like a proper American? Have a look at these maps|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/17/map-curse-words-united-states-shit-asshole-fuck-fuckboy}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=Gawker |date=16 July 2015 |access-date=4 December 2016 |title=Do You Live in a "Bitch" or a "Fuck" State? American Curses, Mapped |url=http://gawker.com/do-you-live-in-a-bitch-or-a-fuck-state-american-cu-1718259899 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722023824/https://gawker.com/do-you-live-in-a-bitch-or-a-fuck-state-american-cu-1718259899 |archive-date=22 July 2015}}</ref> In Maine, it was the most frequently used "cuss word" after "asshole".<ref>{{cite web |date=17 July 2015|access-date=27 July 2015|title= Researchers Determine Maine's Favorite Swear Words To Use On The Internet (NSFW) |url=http://wcyy.com/researchers-determine-maines-favorite-swear-words-to-use-on-the-internet-nsfw/}}</ref>
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