[Ads-l] Heard: _cush_ "vulva"

Tue Jun 7 20:13:49 UTC 2016

While masculine-insult "c**t" exists in the US, it is quite rare. In
fact, the HDAS exx. indicate that its greatest popularity was in the
Marine Corps during WW2 under the influence of Australian and New
Zealand English.

If Americans in Britain picked it up as well, there is, by contrast,
little record of it.

What, if anything, is the significance of this little-mentioned
difference between British and American English?

What's the situation in Canada?

JL

On Tue, Jun 7, 2016 at 3:09 PM, Paul A Johnston, Jr
<paul.johnston at wmich.edu> wrote:
> Interesying Hunt article. I really wonder about the etymology section, though.  Don't the gyne-/queen words have original /kw-/ (as does cow/bovine, but gwena- doesm't look related to gwou-, particularly because the gw- is not a prefix but the first consonant of the root), and the know/ken/kin words have plain /g-/?  The word could come from either of these, I suppose, but not both.  I wonder about the Nostratic evidence too, since the Nostratic hypothesis is far from proven.
>
> Interesting fact about the C-word.  In Scotland, it is thrown around all the time (by males) referring to other males as an insult, but also as a jocular insult.  If someone were really lucky at something (say, making an incredible lot of money gambling on long shots), he might be called "a spawny (i. e. lucky) c**t" in kidding.  The amount of taboo is about the same as if "bastard" were used instead.  This was a shocker for mr. as an American.
>
> I've heard similar uses in England but only as a real insult.  There's a (in)famous Derek & Clive Live sketch (Peter Cook/Dudley Moore) illustrating this nicely.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Sent: Tuesday, June 7, 2016 11:23:16 AM
>> Subject: Re: Heard: _cush_ "vulva"
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Heard: _cush_ "vulva"
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Slightly OT:  I've been citing Hunt's web-posted magnum opus as it =
>> appears at http://www.matthewhunt.com/cunt/.  That seems to be a much
>> =
>> more comprehension version of the "dissertation" document at the link
>> =
>> you provide.  But does "awarded 80%" mean that it *was* a 2000 =
>> dissertation for a PhD (or equivalent) from Coventry University? If
>> so, =
>> why is he now studying for a master's?  Or does "dissertation" mean =
>> something else in this context? =20
>>
>> LH
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Jun 7, 2016, at 11:05 AM, Christopher Philippo <toff at MAC.COM> =
>> wrote:
>> >=20
>> > Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor dropped the mention of an Arabic
>> > origin =
>> from the entry: =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttps-3A__books.google.com_bo=
>> oks-3Fid-3DabYBCgAAQBAJ-26pg-3DPT5168&d=3DAwIFaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdq=
>> w&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DnBCJNd_WHqoz_OOPXwtz=
>> AHMPlPT6tTBjVwRTkk0fkh8&s=3DSla68yzaeEvY4BvKRwBy8Aa3m7mzdrT7Tb4TjuntUqU&e=3D=
>> =20
>> >=20
>> > In Partridge and Beale, the entry specifies =E2=80=9Camong
>> > servicemen =
>> with Near East experience: C.20. Ex Arabic. P.B.: in later C.20 =
>> remembered chiedly in the =E2=80=98soldiers=E2=80=99 Arabic=E2=80=99
>> =
>> phrase shufti cush, let=E2=80=99s see, or show, the cush.=E2=80=9D
>>  Any =
>> number of questions come to mind, including: Where exactly in the
>> Near =
>> East?  Near East experience during which war exactly?  What=E2=80=99s
>> =
>> =E2=80=9Csoldiers=E2=80=99 Arabic=E2=80=9D?  Arabic slang?  Pidgin =
>> Arabic?  If pidgin, it could for all we know be derived from the
>> English =
>> cushion as with the first entry under cush in that dictionary.
>> >=20
>> > Three guesses below as to how one might spell cush in Arabic,
>> > assuming =
>> that =E2=80=9Ccush=E2=80=9D was actually a more or less an accurate =
>> transliteration - which may or may not be the case.  The Arabic word
>> =
>> masjid somehow got rendered into English as mosque, so who knows.
>> >=20
>> > *  kha=E2=80=99 waw sh=C4=ABn starting two entries up from the
>> > bottom =
>> the right column =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttps-3A__books.google.com_bo=
>> oks-3Fid-3DE0ZhAAAAcAAJ-26pg-3DPA637&d=3DAwIFaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw=
>> &r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DnBCJNd_WHqoz_OOPXwtzA=
>> HMPlPT6tTBjVwRTkk0fkh8&s=3D4iSj7RNExeoFKdlltReUABLO0nPAUSv8Xl2RQuU6SPE&e=3D=
>>  =20
>> >=20
>> > *  q=C4=81f w=C4=81w sh=C4=ABn startling at the top of the right =
>> column: =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttps-3A__books.google.com_bo=
>> oks-3Fid-3DE0ZhAAAAcAAJ-26pg-3DPA1153&d=3DAwIFaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdq=
>> w&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DnBCJNd_WHqoz_OOPXwtz=
>> AHMPlPT6tTBjVwRTkk0fkh8&s=3D1TsrkFT9SAHFxXAMRPCRy8zOeh8sG0z2Zq6KITnnbQM&e=3D=
>> =20
>> >=20
>> > *  k=C4=81f w=C4=81w sh=C4=ABn starting seven entries down the left
>> > =
>> column:  =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttps-3A__books.google.com_bo=
>> oks-3Fid-3DE0ZhAAAAcAAJ-26pg-3DPA1217&d=3DAwIFaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdq=
>> w&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DnBCJNd_WHqoz_OOPXwtz=
>> AHMPlPT6tTBjVwRTkk0fkh8&s=3Dj2ZEsI_SHxuxfNMalKWe9LsQUYHyAlwvh4obPKPQbos&e=3D=
>> =20
>> >=20
>> > I tried asking Matthew Hunt, as the word cropped up in his =
>> dissertation:
>> >=20
>> > =E2=80=9C=E2=80=98cush=E2=80=99 (Arabic, from which
>> > =E2=80=98kush=E2=80=99=
>>  is derived) [=E2=80=A6] Finally, thankyou to Bizarre magazine and
>>  the =
>> Need To Know website for publicising this dissertation, which was =
>> submitted to Coventry University on 8/6/2000 and awarded
>> 80%.=E2=80=9D
>> > =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttps-3A__web.archive.org_web=
>> _20010413110758_http-3A__members.tripod.co.uk_mathunt_dissertation.html&d=3D=
>> AwIFaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZR=
>> sMFFaLQ&m=3DnBCJNd_WHqoz_OOPXwtzAHMPlPT6tTBjVwRTkk0fkh8&s=3D_oLi5kxOJmMeL2=
>> _ZG3zHMvZtJe238DFEq8oqgNk4nfk&e=3D=20
>> > =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttps-3A__web.archive.org_web=
>> _20010508214810_http-3A__62.52.93.197_mathunt_dissertation.html&d=3DAwIFaQ=
>> &c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaL=
>> Q&m=3DnBCJNd_WHqoz_OOPXwtzAHMPlPT6tTBjVwRTkk0fkh8&s=3DxLnmhQC7KrvOA8TLHBQ9=
>> 7BuhubeP8DGFvrAdxHPMULs&e=3D=20
>> >=20
>> > =E2=80=9Cthe Arabic 'cush', 'kush'"
>> > =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.matthewhunt.com_=
>> cunt_index.html&d=3DAwIFaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf1=
>> 3gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DnBCJNd_WHqoz_OOPXwtzAHMPlPT6tTBjVwRTkk0fkh=
>> 8&s=3DLTCMitvZDlwjNYZNH-mOIwbng84nWlDSj0LLtkh5cxc&e=3D=20
>> >=20
>> > =E2=80=9CI have a 2:1 BA (Hons) degree in Communication (film
>> > studies, =
>> journalism, advertising, etc) from Coventry university. I=E2=80=99m =
>> currently studying an MA in the same subject, again at Coventry."
>> > =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttps-3A__web.archive.org_web=
>> _20010517010457_http-3A__mhunt.cjb.net_&d=3DAwIFaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7S=
>> dqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DnBCJNd_WHqoz_OOPXw=
>> tzAHMPlPT6tTBjVwRTkk0fkh8&s=3De07J2_190uTIHeIVl3c-jyXYv7hMGwnxuBs88nnjwi4&=
>> e=3D=20
>> >=20
>> > In his e-mail response he indicated he didn=E2=80=99t know what
>> > Arabic =
>> word =E2=80=9Ccush=E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9Ckush=E2=80=9D was purportedly
>> =
>> transliterating. =20
>> >=20
>> > I think one would have to ask native Arabic speakers about the
>> > matter =
>> to figure it out.
>> >=20
>> > Chris Philippo
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.americandialect.=
>> org&d=3DAwIFaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsS=
>> xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DnBCJNd_WHqoz_OOPXwtzAHMPlPT6tTBjVwRTkk0fkh8&s=3DHTk54q=
>> m2ZTk72QxqITy0I_xluPWQRukUrVmPt0az5-U&e=3D=20
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>>
>
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