Using the 'C' word.

[siobhann]

Daffy,

the pictures were just a lucky accident.  I liked it so I chose it from the list.  No one has told me about a spread eagle club.

But that doesn't mean there isn't one.

[siobhann]

ElectroPainLover,

I agree with you about the negative connotation of the word, and I certainly do not use it in polite society. That connotation is what makes it a good tool for writers, I guess I am just coming out against self-censorship. 

And also that is a really cool avatar pic you have there.

[ElectroPainLover]

ElectroPainLover,

I agree with you about the negative connotation of the word, and I certainly do not use it in polite society. That connotation is what makes it a good tool for writers, I guess I am just coming out against self-censorship.

I, too, do not believe in censorship of thoughts or words (except when they violate the innocence and exploitation of our children).

Again, I was trying to point out how some of our writer's can over-use words and show a lack of word-power when not varying the usage of descriptions to describe a person's anatomy.

And also that is a really cool avatar pic you have there.

I think your avatar is pretty cool too Siobhann. 

Dana -- EPL

[Daffy Duck]

I agree with Loras Pa6, I think there are at least 3 of you with the same avatar.

So I think you have already started your own club, of sorts.

Cheers to Loras Pa6, Siobhann and Dana for your replies.

Daffy

[tiffanyn]

I am not offended if it is used about me personally..  everyone to their own prefrences

[Harry]

Slightly off topic, but I have a Irish friend who basically calls every one with the C-word. The prefix just varies.
One might be Stupid C**** where other could be just Fu****g C***.
I have seen him using also words like  disgusting, slutty and toothless used as a prefix to C-word.

[subgrrl]

I love the word and but I hate the way that it is used sometimes. It is a very powerful word. To use it often would be to drain the power from it and that would be a terrible thing to do. I like that some words have this great power. When you see it used well, you start to think, "Oh! Well, we're going to step on up to that level then..." It kind of adds a sense of excitement to the proceedings. If it is not used well, then it the wielder becomes offensive, off-putting, ugly - but I don't blame the word itself.

<>--+-

[ElectroPainLover]

I think you said it very well Subgrrl. The reason I posed the poll and question is because of a story that used cunt as the ONLY word used to refer to the female anatomy. It got old quick. I understand the protagonist was not a nice fellow, but still, a little variation would have been welcome. I have purposefully refrained from mentioning the story and author for respect and figured readers would find it on there own. I believe it can be used correctly as long as it is used in the proper context and mixed with other descriptive words.

Dana -- EPL

[subgrrl]

A word that bothers me more than it should is "masturbate". Not only do I hate the way that it sounds, but there is some sort of shame sewn in to my psyche with that word. Sure, I love to masturbate, but not with that word in mind...

[ElectroPainLover]

Masturbate has been a word I never cared much for myself. I don't use it much in conversation or writing. I too enjoy the act but never think much about the word or the fact that I am masturbating but more about why and what I plan to achieve from it...at least when I am not chaste as I spend much of my time.

As I use masturbate so seldom it had never occured to me on whether I liked the word or not. After reading your post and thinking about it Subgrrl...I too am not a huge fan of the word.

Dana -- EPL

[TeaSer]

I always thought the fuss about a name in "Harry Potter" was a bit screwd - and I realize you guys get upset about words like cunt or fuck.

Well, I live in a country where kids in kindergardens knows how to say fuck and even if it's not widely popular anymore, you'll hear it used publicly if you spend 10 minutes at a bench some place where young people gather. Like in a shop where two employees was talking about a third: Fuck Camilla, one said to the other. They both was very confused when I urged them not to do so (fuck Camilla) in the shop. Why so? Because the words is just an underlining with no real connection to having sex.

So in Denmark you'll hear people say things like: "Fuck, I like this". Or "Don't fuck with me".

For me cunt is the right word to use in a sex-related context. The medical doctor will examine her vagina, but her lover will want her cunt swollen. Just like the medical doctor will examine his penis while she will want his cock hard. However if the doctor was talking about her cunt when discussing her diseases with some colleague, he'd in my opinion disclose he really would like to fuck her too.

For me neither is wrong or offensive - it's just words used in a context and they stimulate my imagination and insight in the mood.

I do know that some people refer to the woman as a whole as a cunt - which in my opinion really is a waste! If this was the case, those people really should use an inflateable doll or simply use their hands to yank off - a woman is so much more than a cunt.

TeaSer

[Apple]

I don't really like it, but it doesn't bother me that much. Still my observation is that often, if it's used in a story, the story isn't that good in general.

[AmyAmy]

It's as jarring as finding tolerate spelled with two Ls.

As it's generally used to denigrate women, or their anatomy, if that fits the character, it has its place. If you aren't trying to portray horrible people, best to avoid it I suspect.

[ElectroPainLover]

Thank you for pointing out my mispelling there Amy...never noticed it. 

[Tom]

As a mature Brit, I get pained by an increasing spinelessness among our younger citizens, coupled with an extreme self-opinionation which is disrespectful of the consequences of their own actions - they want to have their cake and eat it. That this should be typified as a part of our national character is a complete perversion of our historical acquis, where the stiff upper lip disdains such folly as beneath us, and yet it is real, a sign of the immaturity of the younger generation, who seem not to have heard of the kid's syndrome "sticks and stones may break my ones, but names will never hurt me".

The first thing to say, which sadly is clearly needful if really rather unnecessary, is that an adult differentiates between the person posting as themselves, even if as an avatar persona as here, and as an author of fiction portraying a totally different fictitious character: this is the content of the tale itself. If you can't tell the difference, then you really do need to get psychological help. Premeditated conflation of the two is simply malign and the Mods should sanction it, to my mind.

The second is to determine our reaction to it. If the term is used to address the reader directly as the covert third party in the scene, then the author crosses that line: on the other hand, if used as discourse between characters, then there are a number of psychological dyamics. Firstly, the physiological: the author has the choice of many words of greater or lesser delicacy, of which this is towards the more robust end, however can perfectly acceptably be used to portray an unacceptable character. They exist, so it's a matter of unacceptable Bowdlerism to force such circumlocution as "she played the trumpet in bed", one of the worst original offenders as the source was from Shakespeare: an "s" was removed, producing images of an entirely new perversion when it comes to fellatio, her and the rest of The Shillingbury Blowers, Brassed Off and The Full Monty combined! "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet", was the original author's comment on such, and it's entirely plausible that Shakespeare was using the term euphemistically to address this question as a result of the subjunctive clause. To refuse to accept that horrible characters exist is juvenile, the world is full of them. A second sub-instance is the intimate, "you have the sweetest, prettiest cunt I've ever seen". A third is affectionate, "you silly cunt", a fourth intense, "he slid into her cunt as she closed her eyes in utter rapture", a fifth, cockney rhyming slang (a Burk is a denegration of a reference to the upper-class twits who are members of the Berkshire Hunt, which rhymes with cunt, however in the affected accent where the first half of the County name is mispronounced indicating exactly how the twit - itself an affectionate diminution of twat interpolated with clit - would speak, as Cockney should ideally have a witty subtext as well as the rhyme) - I leave it to you to cite further cases, I'm not Roget writing his thesaurus here.

A third is the linguistic semantics, the beat and pace of the phrase itself. Short words have impact, if he were to replace the term with "pudendum", for example, it would affect the entire dynamic of the phrase. That is his prerogative, to be direct if he chooses. He's supposedly addressing grown-ups, the word exists, you recognise what it means, live with it. He's making a point. Indeed, so must we to discuss its use! If you're upset about such matters, what are you doing here? Engaged in a moral crusade rooted in your own values? If so, where's the immorality between honest directness recognising a sometimes indelicate truth, or a mealy-mouthed circumlocution of the same? Perhaps it's your values which need review. Just because an ancient text taken out of context says something doesn't make it true, the same game can twist the texts of most Holy Scriptures of all religions.