See You Next Tuesday

A young lady appearing on the Today Show yesterday surprised host Meredith Vieira by crossing the linguistic DMZ and dropping the C-bomb. Twice! Let’s go to the videotape:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M-zbqucw14

Ouch!

In America, the C-word remains the nuclear option of swear words, a taboo that you should steer away from the way you’d avoid a hornet’s nest hanging from a tree in your front yard. Stay away! Dropping an F-bomb may get you in trouble. The C-word? That could earn you a few unpaid days off, a trip to marriage counseling, or a slap in the face.

The forbidden word is not so forbidden in other places, particularly the UK and Ireland, where it’s c*** this and c*** that all day long. Why the big difference? No idea.

A mini-cultural riot erupted when an internet-only trailer for Kick Ass featured Chloe Moretz as 11-year-old super hero/lethal death machine, Hit Girl, saying “Alright you c****, let’s see what you can do now.” Besides her foul mouth, she also does quite a bit of killing. It seems people were more upset about her saying c*** than murdering people.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePAYcMIAjuA]

It’s not like c*** hasn’t shown up in movies and on TV, and for data on that we turn to IMDB — then there’s this great bit from Curb Your Enthusiasm. What now? Are little girls the ones ushering the c-word down the aisle of common usage in America? How odd.

13 thoughts on “See You Next Tuesday

  1. OK – I got in trouble for a cryptic, PG-13 rated feminine hygiene reference. I had to apologize, write “I will not say (or imply) douche bag on the blog) 100 times on the blackboard, say ten “Hail Marys and ten “Our Fathers” and perform at least one corporal work of mercy.

    I wanna know what you’re gonna hafta do for using the C-word???

  2. 2 funny. I just had this discussion w/my boyfriend this past week. He says the C word is no big deal, just like the F-bomb, etc. I say NO, NO, NO! I don’t know WHY it is, but it is definetly the dealbreaker word! You want me to throw a punch or become some raving lunatic, call me that word. Seriously, I am a normal, loving, calm 40+ woman, but dare go there and I will freak!!! It’s just nasty…

  3. I love this book: “C***: a declaration of independence” by Inga Muscio. the gist: it’s just a word. reclaim the word to have a different meaning, then it won’t be so bad.

  4. I don’t know why people think words are bad…I guess they just Can’t Understand Normal Thinking!

  5. I’m impressed with Meredith Veira, who is apparently cool with that word. “It’s okay, sweetie!”

    How come I don’t get called sweetie after I drop that word?

  6. Thank you for bringing up this point! To me, the c word is merely the feminine version of the p or d word. And that’s how I use it. But the point I’m applauding is how over-reactive people are to cuss words. I’ve been long saying that you’ll get in trouble faster for saying the eff word around a child than you would for actually effing them (just as certain preists) and that’s, frankly, truly effed up.

    That said, I will be passing on that movie. Because promoting kids killing as a good thing is also truly effed up.

    As for the first girl, she was asked what the text said and she quoted it. What was she supposed to do? Not answer?

  7. I don’t like the word. It’s ugly. For some reason, the F word doesn’t bother me (judging by how liberal I am with it’s usage but like I said in another post, I’m from Brooklyn) but the C word immediately turns me off and makes me look down on the person using it. Ironic? Hypocritical? Probably.

    As to the movie, I haven’t seen it and I don’t really have any desire to. It’s just not my thing. Unlike most people though, I will not offer an opinion on a movie I haven’t seen.

  8. Jennifer: I’ll toss F-bombs, but the C-word just isn’t something in my vocabulary because it’s so forbidden.

    Isn’t that funny how people go on and on about movies they’ve never seen? My favorite example of that was when hardcore Christians were going berserk over Martin Scorsese’s Last Temptation of Christ. If all the people who complained about that film actually saw it, it would have been a blockbuster.

Leave a Reply to Kevin Marshall Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *