So so little cunt

By Mina Moriarty. According to author and historian M. Our self-contempt originates in this: in knowing we are cunt. And soon to be movie. The Mahabharata was a historical Hindu text, believed to have been written between and BC, containing mythological and didactic tales of heroism and the sovereign rivalry between two families.

I once considered starting a band titled Currently Unemployed, Neither Talented. But it turned out the name didn't disguise my lack of musical ability, and the name got a pretty benign response from my classmates. Interestingly this was when I was 15, back when the word "cunt" seemed passe. But the cultural climate has changed and "cunt" has again become taboo, or certainly more taboo than it was. To explore this semiotic evolution, and to gauge how Australians in feel about the word "cunt," I walked around Melbourne asking for opinions.

It is used in a variety of ways, including as a term of disparagement. Reflecting national variations, cunt can be used as a disparaging and obscene term for a woman in the United States, an unpleasant or stupid man or woman in the United Kingdom, or a contemptible man in Australia and New Zealand. Feminist writer and English professor Germaine Greer argues that cunt "is one of the few remaining words in the English language with a genuine power to shock". The earliest known use of the word, according to the Oxford English Dictionary , was as part of a placename of a London street, Gropecunt Lane , c. Use of the word as a term of abuse is relatively recent, dating from the late nineteenth century.

You can use it as a reprimand, an insult, or a term of endearment; a noun, an adjective or a verb. Or to refer to the Central line. However, herein lies the anxiety of using the C-bomb. While I am very happy to use it a little too liberally admittedly in my everyday parlance, it still feels slightly shocking to see it written down and one is reminded that, for many, it is still the last word in offensiveness.