the new taboo

[Joel Goldes]

Based on my playing that record hundreds of times in my youth (and
occasionally since then), I can report that the character does say to
himself, "Oh, thank you.  I never thought of that.  What a silly bunt."

Joel Goldes

All Dialects Taught
Including Neutral American
www.thedialectcoach.com
818-879-1896

I remember that he was being interviewed by another man. However, I thought
from the intonation and context that he was referring to himself as a "silly
bunt."

Ed

--- Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
> sam clements:
>  >I think the word "cunt," used to describe a woman,  is still pretty
>  >taboo in the US.  Evidently, from a discussion over at the StraightDope
>
>
>http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=185861&highl
i
>  >ght=cunt, the word has started to be used in
> England in reference to
>  >a male.  The UK posters suggest that it is no
> worse than calling a
>  >guy a wanker, at least in some circles.
>
> Monty Python's "man who couldn't say the letter C"
> sketch (he says B
> instead, as in Beble Bollege, Oxford) ends with the
> bloke saying,
> under his breath, "silly bunt".  to another man, i
> think, but i'm
> unable to find it in my sources right now.
>
> certainly i heard this usage in the UK thirty years
> ago.  it's the
> sort of thing a yank like me would notice.
>
> arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)