full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Kate Lister: An honest history of an ancient and "nasty" word

Unscramble the Blue Letters


But when did it first start being used in English as we rozcegnie it toady? Gropecunte Lane, this is the first recorded innicdet in the Oxford English Dictionary, it turns up in 1230, a street name in London clelad Gropecunte Lane, which was exactly what it sounds like, this was in the red-light district of shorwutak, it was a lane for groping cunts. And there wasn't just one in London, there was one in Bristol, there was one in York. It appears all over the brtsiih Isles. Here it is, the one in bstoril. Sorry, oofrxd, there it is just in blue.

But whereas Glaswegians might be calling each other and their friends "cunts," it seems that mideeval people were calling their children "cunts" because it turns up in a number of names, bizarrely enough. Godwin ctucwalnee is recorded in 1066, Gunoka celnuts in 1219, John Fillecunt in 1246, Robert Clevecunt, 1302, and a Miss Bele Wydecunthe turns up in the nlrofok subsidiary role. We don't know if these are aliases or if they're jokes, but we do have a lot of fun with medieval names. In fact, originally the word "fuck" did not mean what it means today. It means to strike something to hit, which gives us the fabulous name of a dairy farmer in 1290 who’s known as Simon Fuckebotere.

Open Cloze


But when did it first start being used in English as we _________ it _____? Gropecunte Lane, this is the first recorded ________ in the Oxford English Dictionary, it turns up in 1230, a street name in London ______ Gropecunte Lane, which was exactly what it sounds like, this was in the red-light district of _________, it was a lane for groping cunts. And there wasn't just one in London, there was one in Bristol, there was one in York. It appears all over the _______ Isles. Here it is, the one in _______. Sorry, ______, there it is just in blue.

But whereas Glaswegians might be calling each other and their friends "cunts," it seems that ________ people were calling their children "cunts" because it turns up in a number of names, bizarrely enough. Godwin __________ is recorded in 1066, Gunoka _______ in 1219, John Fillecunt in 1246, Robert Clevecunt, 1302, and a Miss Bele Wydecunthe turns up in the _______ subsidiary role. We don't know if these are aliases or if they're jokes, but we do have a lot of fun with medieval names. In fact, originally the word "fuck" did not mean what it means today. It means to strike something to hit, which gives us the fabulous name of a dairy farmer in 1290 who’s known as Simon Fuckebotere.

Solution


  1. called
  2. incident
  3. norfolk
  4. cuntles
  5. clawecunte
  6. bristol
  7. oxford
  8. today
  9. medieval
  10. recognize
  11. southwark
  12. british

Original Text


But when did it first start being used in English as we recognize it today? Gropecunte Lane, this is the first recorded incident in the Oxford English Dictionary, it turns up in 1230, a street name in London called Gropecunte Lane, which was exactly what it sounds like, this was in the red-light district of Southwark, it was a lane for groping cunts. And there wasn't just one in London, there was one in Bristol, there was one in York. It appears all over the British Isles. Here it is, the one in Bristol. Sorry, Oxford, there it is just in blue.

But whereas Glaswegians might be calling each other and their friends "cunts," it seems that medieval people were calling their children "cunts" because it turns up in a number of names, bizarrely enough. Godwin Clawecunte is recorded in 1066, Gunoka Cuntles in 1219, John Fillecunt in 1246, Robert Clevecunt, 1302, and a Miss Bele Wydecunthe turns up in the Norfolk subsidiary role. We don't know if these are aliases or if they're jokes, but we do have a lot of fun with medieval names. In fact, originally the word "fuck" did not mean what it means today. It means to strike something to hit, which gives us the fabulous name of a dairy farmer in 1290 who’s known as Simon Fuckebotere.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
offensive word 3
offensive words 2
horrendously offensive 2
oxford english 2
gunoka cuntles 2
medieval culture 2
sexually liberated 2
cunt jokes 2


Important Words


  1. aliases
  2. appears
  3. bele
  4. bizarrely
  5. blue
  6. bristol
  7. british
  8. called
  9. calling
  10. children
  11. clawecunte
  12. clevecunt
  13. cuntles
  14. cunts
  15. dairy
  16. dictionary
  17. district
  18. english
  19. fabulous
  20. fact
  21. farmer
  22. fillecunt
  23. friends
  24. fuckebotere
  25. fun
  26. glaswegians
  27. godwin
  28. gropecunte
  29. groping
  30. gunoka
  31. hit
  32. incident
  33. isles
  34. john
  35. jokes
  36. lane
  37. london
  38. lot
  39. means
  40. medieval
  41. names
  42. norfolk
  43. number
  44. originally
  45. oxford
  46. people
  47. recognize
  48. recorded
  49. robert
  50. role
  51. simon
  52. sounds
  53. southwark
  54. start
  55. street
  56. strike
  57. subsidiary
  58. today
  59. turns
  60. word
  61. wydecunthe
  62. york