This sort of soapbox is surely what the interweb was created for…

Love it.

That Splendid C-Word

on the Huffington Post by Simon Napier-Bell

A couple of weeks ago Julie Burchill was complaining in the Independent about people who use the C-word. She thoroughly disapproves. But I think she’s wrong. It’s a splendid word. A super word. A great full-stop of a word. Uttered with a suitable amount of venom, it can bring any conversation to a complete halt, whereas its miserably overused cousin, the F-word, has lost all power to shock.

Julie’s objection seems be that using the word to abuse someone denigrates the female sex organ. But she’s wrong. The word has two distinctly different meanings. And when used to abuse someone, it has no more to do with the female sex organ than calling someone a silly old bugger has to do with homosexuality.

As a term of abuse, the C-word has developed a distinct meaning of its own. Think for a minute at whom you might hurl it at. Nearly always someone stubborn pedantic, bureaucratic, and – in the way. That’s the most important bit – in the way. Someone coming between you and something you want. Not reasonably; but because they claim principle, or bureaucracy, or correct procedure to be on their side. Like the waiter who won’t let you sit at the table you want because it’s for four, and you’re only two, despite the fact the restaurant is completely empty.

A candidate for the C-word is always in the way of something that seems quite reasonable for you to want to do. And therein lies the clue to the word’s transition from its original meaning of the female sex organ…. continue reading on Huffington Post