Slog - Comments on Shakespeare's Best Cunt Joke http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke For Annie... In Twelth Night the servant Malvolio examines a love letter written, so he's been told, by his lady. He examines the handwriting and exclaims... By my life, this is my lady's hand these be her very C's, her U's and her T's and thus makes she her great P's. It is, in contempt of question, her hand. In performance, of course, "and her T's" comes out "N her T's," thus spelling out CUNT--and it is with her cunt that Malvolio's lady makes her great P's. Ah, the classics.... Copyright 2008 Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:48:09 -0800 Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:35:08 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Sigourney Beaver HAMLET
Lady, shall I lie in your lap?

Lying down at OPHELIA's feet

OPHELIA
No, my lord.

HAMLET
I mean, my head upon your lap?

OPHELIA
Ay, my lord.

HAMLET
Do you think I meant country matters?

OPHELIA
I think nothing, my lord.

HAMLET
That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs.

OPHELIA
What is, my lord?

HAMLET
Nothing.

]]> Sigourney Beaver http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846914 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846914 Arts Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:02:37 -0800 Comment by Sigourney Beaver Jeff Greene: All of the women at HBO, they don't want to work with you.

Larry David: Oh, come on. That's ridiculous.

Jeff Greene: They think you're a misogynist.

Larry David: Why, 'cause I called the guy a cunt? So what!

Jeff Greene: 'Cause you called the guy a cunt.

Larry David: Big deal, I call men pricks all the time, men want to work with me.

Jeff Greene: Well, cunt's worse.

Larry David: Cunt's not worse. Pricks and cunts, they're equal. Pricks, cunts, come on. They balance out.

Jeff Greene: No, cunt is worse. Cunt's much heavier.

Larry David: Why? Why is cunt heavier?

Jeff Greene: I never questioned, it just is.

Larry David: That's sexist to me! Come on.

]]> Sigourney Beaver http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846919 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846919 Arts Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:08:10 -0800 Comment by annie Let it be noted that I didn't call anyone a cunt. I was referring to genitals.

]]> annie http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846928 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846928 Arts Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:13:25 -0800 Comment by -B- See you next tuesday!

]]> -B- http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846934 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846934 Arts Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:17:03 -0800 Comment by Greg Pretty much my two favorite dirty jokes in Shakespeare. The porter's speech from Macbeth also has some good sex and piss jokes.

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846941 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846941 Arts Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:24:20 -0800 Comment by Travis At Shakespeare's house in Stratford Upon Avon they have a little visual display set up about Anne Hathaway, Will's nominal wife. The title of this little display? "Country Matters."

]]> Travis http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846960 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c846960 Arts Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:42:31 -0800 Comment by hillside_hoyden I think that the "great P" in that passage refers to pudenda, not to peeing.

]]> hillside_hoyden http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c847024 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c847024 Arts Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:40:22 -0800 Comment by COMTE And let's not forget that ribald classic from Henry V:

CATHERINE: Comment appelez-vous les pieds et la robe?

TUTOR: De foot, madame, et de cown.

CATHERINE: De foutre et de con? O Seigneur dieu! Ils sont les mots de son mauvais, corruptible, gros, et impudique, et non pour les dames d'honneur d'user.

Yeah, Shakespeare loved his dirty, dirty jokes (which strangely, never seem to get mentioned in high school English classes.)

]]> COMTE http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c847028 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c847028 Arts Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:46:03 -0800 Comment by genevieve My 12th grade english teacher made a point of demonstrating that Shakespeare was completely filthy using this very passage. It was definitely a successful way of making the Bard interesting to a bunch of snot-nosed teenagers.

]]> genevieve http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c847264 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c847264 Arts Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:25:06 -0800 Comment by voluptuous_vegan i took a shakespeare course last year and the professor explained that p's in elizabethan script looked like n's, and he interchanged the letters in a half-assed attempt to avoid obscenity. same meaning, i just thought i'd be a know-it-all.

]]> voluptuous_vegan http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c847343 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c847343 Arts Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:08:20 -0800 Comment by NaFun That and Sigourney Beaver's example were both mentioned in Wicked Words for their 'cunt' entry. (hehe, cunt entry):
http://qu.to/3w7
(Amazon link)

It's part of the supporting evidence for their assertion that 'cunt' is/was more taboo than 'fuck' because even Shakespeare only alluded to it.

]]> NaFun http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c848698 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/shakespeares_best_cunt_joke#c848698 Arts Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:35:08 -0800