Kathrin Lambertz: Use and Perception of word cunt in British and American English 21
Taboo Words: The Use and Perception of the word cunt in British and American English KATHRIN LAMBERTZ* Abstract This paper is concerned with the use and perception of taboo words in different cultural backgrounds. Specifically, the aim of this research was to investigate how the word cunt is used and perceived in British and American English. The project focused on whether the word cunt is used in a derogatory or comical manner in the target countries and which words it occurs with. The analysis focused on spoken discourse found in the British National Corpus (BNC) and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). Ethnographic interviews were designed to obtain a more specific picture about how American and British English speakers use and perceive the word. On the basis of this data, the key findings support the hypothesis that although American and British speakers of English use the word in the same manner, British speakers use it more frequently in a comical manner. Further research should investigate whether gender or age has an impact on the use of cunt. 1. Introduction Although there have been many attempts of seeking the etymology of the word cunt, it is clear that the word cunt nowadays counts to the most abusive taboo words. Despite this fact, I hear it frequently in people’s every‐day conversations and not only in a derogatory manner but also as a comical manner as a term of endearment, i.e. similar to mate or as an exaggeration similar to the word freak – mostly applied by British people. Allan and Burridge (2009) state that taboo words such as the word cunt “must be specified for a particular community of people, for a specified context, at a given place and time” and suggest that “there is no such thing as an absolute taboo: one that holds for all worlds, times and contexts”. This statement suggests that there are possible differences in uses and perceptions of the word cunt in different countries and cultural backgrounds. Also, it has been seen that organisations have been and are still trying to change the abusive meaning of the word cunt back to its original meaning ‐ the female external genital organs. This research will investigate Allen and Burridge’s claim that a taboo word must be specified in a given cultural background and can thus not be universal. In particular, it will investigate two countries‐ Britain and America‐ to compare their uses and perception of the word cunt. First, the existing literature was reviewed in order to elicit some insight into the origin and development of the word cunt. 1.1 History of the word cunt The word cunt derives from the Old Germanic word kunton (Oxford English Dictionary Online 1989), originally meaning a cliff or valley “which bears flowers every four weeks and fruit every nine months” (Wajnryb 2004). Unfortunately, this rather beautiful imagery of the female genitalia changed over time. In her book about sexual language in nineteenth‐
century Britain, Sigel (2000) describes how the word cunt initially occurred in a British poem in 1203 and was used in a humorous rather than a derogatory manner. Also, the word cunt Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 5, 1 (2012), 21‐28 Kathrin Lambertz: Use and Perception of word cunt in British and American English 22
was used in poems to describe a “mistress’ sexual attraction” as a triumph of erotic definition (Wilcoxon 1975). Until then, the word cunt was a relatively socially accepted word used to refer to sexuality and the female genitals (Sigel 2000:397) and its familiarity made its use unavoidable. Also, the pornography industry used the word cunt in a humorous manner with other words referring to body parts or sexual acts such as fuck, cock, bugger etc. (Sigel 2000:397). It was not until the late nineteenth century that the pornography industry ‘polluted’ some words referring to sexuality. Sexual cursing became a powerful tool of the pornography industry for layering dirtiness onto eroticism and gained high popularity with the masses (Sigel 2000:395). The original edition of the Oxford English Dictionary avoided the word cunt altogether until 1965 (Wajnryb 2004. Now, the Oxford English Dictionary (1989) lists two definitions of cunt. The first one defines it as “the female external genital organs” and the second one as “applied to a person, especially a woman, as a term of vulgar abuse”. However, the dictionary clarifies that “its currency is restricted in the manner of other taboo‐words”. 1.2 Rapport Management Theory Spencer‐Oatey (2000) claims that rapport management “examines the way that language is used to construct, maintain and/or threaten social relationships and includes the management of sociality rights as well as of face”. As noted, the word cunt seems to be used in different manners, so that its different occurrences can be analysed in regard to the following four categories of rapport management (or of social relations management) identified by Spencer‐Oatey (2000:29‐30): Rapport‐enhancement orientation: a desire to strengthen or enhance harmonious relations between the interlocutors; Rapport‐maintenance orientation: a desire to maintain or protect harmonious relations between the interlocutors; Rapport‐neglect orientation: a lack of concern or interest in the quality of relations between the interlocutors (perhaps because of a focus on self); Rapport‐challenge orientation: a desire to challenge or impair harmonious relations between the interlocutors. The author suggests that the relationship between the participants can influence rapport management strategies (Spencer‐Oatey 2000), e.g. variables such as power, distance, number of participants, social roles, content of messages and where the communicative activity has taken place. Allan and Burridge (2009) add that a taboo word is specified in a certain community, context, space and time. Thus, these variables also influence the use of the word cunt. 1.3 Research question and hypotheses The preceding claims about the use and perception of the word cunt have led to the following research question to be investigated in this paper: 1. Do British and American English speakers use and perceive the word cunt differently? A careful review of the literature and anecdotal experience of the use of the word cunt have led to the following hypotheses concerning the outcome of this study: Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 5, 1 (2012), 21‐28 Kathrin Lambertz: Use and Perception of word cunt in British and American English 23
1. Both British and American English speakers use the word cunt in both a derogatory and comical manner. 2. British English speakers use the term cunt more frequently and in rather a comical manner and American English speakers use it less frequently and in rather a derogatory manner. 3. The word cunt is more socially accepted in Britain than in the USA. 2. Methodology In order to conduct the research, data was drawn from corpora analysis and ethnographic interviews. The corpora used were the British National Corpus (BNC) and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), along with an examination of the rapport management strategies outlined by Spencer‐Oatey (2000) of the different uses of the word cunt in spoken discourse. Additionally, a concordance analysis was used, with a focus on the co‐text surrounding the word cunt in order to see what kind of language it tends to collocate and co‐occur with. The ethnographic interviews took place in communal areas, library study areas or private settings and were recorded for further analysis. Two male and two female participants each from Britain and the USA were interviewed regardless of age. Participants were first asked to read and sign a consent form in order to ensure the interviewees’ permission to record the interviews. The second part of the interview was semi‐structured and the questions were open, with the intention of leading to further questions and discussion. The participants were first asked a set of questions which would help to clarify their use of the word cunt. They were asked if and how frequently they used it in their everyday conversations and in which situations they use it. Secondly, they were asked a set of questions about their perceptions of the word cunt, i.e. how they feel about using or hearing the word, what it means to them and how it is perceived in their country. Additionally, questionnaires were sent to three American and three British speakers, in order to obtain a stronger data set. (See Appendix for a copy of the questionnaire.) After the interviews, relevant sections were transcribed and the data was analysed via discursive pragmatics principles as relevant to the research question. Findings were then compared with the conclusions drawn from the corpora analysis. 3. Results 3.1.1 British National Corpus (BNC) The analysis of the BNC showed 95 occurrences of the word cunt in spoken private conversations. Thirty occurrences of the word cunt have been analysed as functioning as a rapport‐enhancement orientation in order to strengthen or enhance harmonious relations between the interlocutors. An example can be seen in the following conversation: 1. A: Hey I know four people who are going to the party and thatʹs it. And theyʹre not gonna stay with me, yeah? Just gonna go off. Yeah? With the girls, yeah? And Iʹll be all alone. 2. B: Well donʹt go then! 3. A: Yeah but I wanna go. 4. B: Well go! Stop moaning! 5. A: Youʹre a cunt () whyʹs your brotherʹs birthday have to be today? 6. B: Today. Hhhhh tomorrow () Itʹs tomorrow hhhhhhhh Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 5, 1 (2012), 21‐28 Kathrin Lambertz: Use and Perception of word cunt in British and American English 24
7. A: Oh itʹs tomorrow () Well whatʹs your brotherʹs birthday have to be tomorrow for cunt? 8. B: Thereʹs your Mum. Thereʹs your granddad. Thereʹs your girl. Oh itʹs your family. You idiot oo::h you cunt! Hhhhhhhh. The preceding conversation shows the word cunt is used as a term of endearment in a rather harmonious conversation. For example, in referring to his/her counterpart as a cunt (7), Speaker A indicates that there is a personal and close relationship between the interlocutors. Here, the word cunt is used in a comical rather than derogatory manner. The corpus listed 65 occurrences of the word cunt functioning as a rapport‐challenge orientation in order to challenge or impair harmonious relations between the interlocutors. We can see an example in the following conversation: 1. A: You fucking blow the bastard engine up, youʹll fucking get a sore I would think so no, no look out. Fucking idiot what you doing? 2. B: Oh listen you stupid guy letʹs be good citizens shall we and let everyone through. 3. A: Race that fucking whore and get her out the bloody way. Letʹs all be very good citizens and kill everyone man, fucking stupid cunt fucking stupid bastard very bastard, very bastard there you go you cunt, 4. B: Aa::hh fuck off. This dialogue suggests a rather tense manner, possibly a fight or argument. The word cunt is clearly used to challenge the relationship ‐ the status quo ‐ of the interlocutors. Overall, it is interesting that only two rapport‐management strategies have been identified. In fact, only the two extreme rapport strategies have been used, either enhancing or impairing. Additionally, concordance analysis showed that the word cunt ‐ if used as a rapport‐
challenge orientation ‐ usually co‐occurs with other cursive or offensive terms such as fuck, bastard, whore etc. This conversation offers an indicative illustration of this observation. 3.1.2 Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) The analysis of the COCA showed no occurrences of the word cunt in spoken private conversations. One of the reasons is that the COCA files only public conversations such as TV or radio shows. As it was not possible to gather information about the use of the word cunt through corpus analysis, the information had to be gathered through ethnographic interviews. 3.2 Ethnographic Interviews and Questionnaires 3.2.1 American respondents The second part of this research project showed a clearer picture of how Americans might use and perceive the word cunt. Interestingly, all six American participants responded that it is not used frequently in the USA. “Yes, but only with certain people. It is a way to convey a huge amount of dislike or disgust for someone. In my mind, the word is only reserved for someone really reviled. I would not use it casually or with someone I didn’t know well.” (American female, aged 30) Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 5, 1 (2012), 21‐28 Kathrin Lambertz: Use and Perception of word cunt in British and American English 25
“No () No not a lot () It’s not very commonly used () it’s pre::tty offensive in the States.” (American male, aged 35) Also, the use of the word cunt can occur in a comical manner; however it is used more frequently in a derogatory manner, as can be seen in the following statement: “Usually, but not always, there’s a pejorative meaning with its use ... a proper lady has a vagina (or, to be less direct, some other cute nickname) but a promiscuous woman has a cunt. Most of the time, it’s not a reference to a body part but rather a character judgment.” (American male, aged 60) The American respondents said that the word cunt is not very socially accepted in the USA and that it would not be used in public. “It would be considered a pretty “low‐class” thing to say in public. Never in a workplace setting.” (American female, aged 29) One of the respondents claimed that American people would feel rather offended by the word, as can be seen in the following two statements: “I have a lot of friends though who might be offended by it (.2) or () if you use it in public people might feel offended by it.” (American male, aged 35) “So let’s say you would be talking to a group of friends in a public area you wouldn’t say it out loud NO no no no no I would definitely not do that no () America is very politically correct () if you say it you’re out.” (American male, aged 35) In addition, the interviews found that the female respondents wanted to reclaim the word cunt. One of the respondents says: “I want to reclaim it. I like the word. I think it has real guts you know. It’s out there and people have to react to it...I just wish the reaction was more a sense of empowerment and beauty (ode to the vagina!) rather than a synonym for “bitch” and yet another word that reminds us to keep the feminist movement alive.” (American female, aged 29) 3.2.2 British respondents In contrast, the six British respondents claimed that the word cunt is used quite frequently, is seen in the following statements: “I hear the word every day used in public in Britain and Ireland. Everywhere ya go you hear it.” (British male, aged 26) “Yes quite a lot hhhhhhhhh () m:::m as an insult but also in comedic ways as well like comedy you know () I find it more funny to be honest lots of people find it really offensive but () you would also say something like you know when you had a bad day you would say I had a cunt‐ish day or so.” (British female, aged 24) “Well in pubs yes () I hear it a lot of time on buses or in pubs.” (British female, aged 24) Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 5, 1 (2012), 21‐28 Kathrin Lambertz: Use and Perception of word cunt in British and American English 26
The British respondents also claimed that it can be used in a derogatory manner, but that it is used more often in a comical manner or as a term of endearment, as is seen in the following statements: “Yes quite a lot hhhhhhhhh () mm:::m as an insult but also in comedic ways as well like comedy you know () I find it more funny to be honest lots of people find it really offensive but () you would also say something like you know when you had a bad day you would say I had an cunt‐ish day or so.” (British female, aged 24) “I use it in a way if I feel something is hard to do e. g. it’s a tough match...I would say it’s a cunt of a match.” (British male, aged 26) Four of the six British respondents said that the use of the word cunt is more socially accepted: “ Yeah I think no one takes it too serious in Britain () like it’s not really used as much in a derogatory way so that people don’t really feel offended by it.” (British female, aged 24) The majority of the British respondents claimed that the use of the word cunt depends on the generation, as the following extract shows: “I think many older people would find it more offensive though.” “In what way?” “Well () they just don’t use many colloquial words like the younger generation I think () I think the word cunt in its use now is kind of like not so offensive any more.” (British female, aged 24) “It’s used a lot amongst young people but you would never say it in front of an older person.” (British male, aged 25) 4. Discussion The first thing worth noting about the results is the consistency of the opinions expressed by both British and American respondents. The results support the first hypothesis, that American and British English speakers can use the word cunt in both ways, that is, in a derogatory and comical manner. However, the British respondents demonstrated that the word seems to be used more frequently in a comical way and is often used in public. Also the corpus analysis of the BNC showed that there exists a balanced use of either a rapport‐
enhancement or rapport‐challenge strategy. American English speakers seem to use it less frequently because of its negative connotations. These findings are consistent with Allan and Burridge’s (2009) claims that there is no absolute taboo word and that a taboo word has to be defined in a specific cultural background. Cultural values and beliefs might also influence the effects of a taboo word. A reason for the relative lack of use of the word cunt in American English might be that American English speakers seem to emphasise political correctness, as one of the respondents suggested. On the other hand, British English speakers might use profanities to find a way of bonding and to establish rapport (DuFrene and Lehman 2002). Also, as the word was used in rather a humorous way in the 19th century in Britain and only changed its connotations through the pornography industry (Sigel 2000), it might be possible that British English Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 5, 1 (2012), 21‐28 Kathrin Lambertz: Use and Perception of word cunt in British and American English 27
speakers maintained a somewhat positive and comical picture of the word cunt. This assumption might be a significant focus for further research in investigating the etymology of the word cunt and why it is used so differently in British and American English. Based on the limited set of data, the second hypothesis can also be proved as correct. Lastly, the third hypothesis also proved to be correct. While it has been observed that British English speakers generally claim that the word cunt is somewhat socially accepted and thus used in public, this was considerably different to the views of the American speakers of English. Despite the fact that the word cunt seems to be perceived very negatively in the USA, some female American English speakers claimed that they would like to reclaim it. Interestingly, this opinion also appears in the feminist movement which attempts to reject negative connotations of the word (Coughlin 2002). 5. Conclusion Due to the limited scope of this research project, it cannot of course be implied that the findings are valid for every country or cultural background. Also, the fact that the respondents generally came from the same place in their country (e.g. the American respondents were from Oregon) makes it difficult to draw general conclusions, as values and beliefs within a country might differ as well. Further research is therefore necessary to obtain a more universal or cross‐cultural picture of the use and perception of the word cunt. There is evidence, at least, that the word is not an absolute taboo and that there still exist attempts to reclaim its original meaning of a beautiful imagery of the female genitalia. References Allan, K. and Burridge, K. 2009. Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language. In Comparative Studies in Australian and New Zealand English Grammar and Beyond, ed. by P. Peters, P. Collins and A. Smith. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. British National Corpus (1980‐1993) Viewed 21 September 2010 at http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/ Coughlin, A.M. 2002. Representing the Forbidden. California Law Review 90:2143‐2183. Davis, M. 1990‐2010. Corpus of Contemporary American English. Viewed 21 September 2010 at http://www.americancorpus.org DuFrene, D. and Lehman, C. 2002. Persuasive Appeal for Clean Language. Business Communication Quarterly 65:48‐55. Oxford English Dictionary Online (1989). Viewed October 1, 2010 at http://dictionary.oed.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/cgi/entry Sigel, L. 2000. Name Your Pleasure: the Transformation of Sexual Language in Nineteenth‐Century British Pornography. Journal of the History of Sexuality 9:395‐419. Spencer‐Oatey, H. 2000. Rapport management: a Framework for Analysis. In Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures, ed. by H. Spencer‐Oatey. London: Continuum. Wajnryb, R. 2004. Language Most Foul. Crows Nest, Allen & Unwin. Wilcoxon, R. 1975. Pornography, Obscenity, and Rochesterʹs ʺThe Imperfect Enjoymentʺ. Studies in English Literature 15:375‐390. Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 5, 1 (2012), 21‐28 Kathrin Lambertz: Use and Perception of word cunt in British and American English 28
Appendix Questions for ethnographic interviews and questionnaires: 1. Have you ever used the word cunt in any way in a conversation? Directly or talking about someone or something? In what way? 2. Has anyone ever used the word cunt in a conversation with you? If yes, in what respect? How did you feel? 3. Have you ever heard saying the word cunt in public in your country? 4. In which ways do you think people use the word cunt in your country? 5. How do you perceive the word cunt? 6. How do you think the word cunt is perceived in your country? 7. Do you know/ think that people in Britain/Australia use or perceive the word cunt differently to your country? Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 5, 1 (2012), 21‐28