Question for students

[Tom]

Does anyone here have access through their university computer system to the Jstor library?

I've written quite a few good Wikipedia articles, and now I'm trying to get this probably NSFW article to FA standard on Wikipedia, if it gets there then it should be eligible for their front page. I'm curious to see how prudish the admins on Wikipedia are when it comes to subjects like this - its an entirely dispassionate and encyclopaedic entry that should not be subject to censorship, but '****' is a bit of a taboo word and I suspect it will not be allowed on the front page - thus demonstrating that Wikipedia is, after all, subject to censorship by itself. I've written most of it, its been copyedited by another user I've worked with on several articles.

Someone has raised a comment about the etymology of the word '****', and wants me to include a bit more on the language roots (apparently the word is not related to the latin cunnus). I can't do this without browsing some of the material at Jstor.org, so if anyone does have access it would be great to get a few pdf files I can use as a reference. Alternatively any scholarly material that can be accessed on a university system (or similar) that gets me access to a reliable etymology of the word would be very useful.

There is an interesting article here but I'm unable to use that as a source because generally speaking blogs are not subject to the same publishing standards as books, major newspapers, etc.

 

[Cadelin]

I have access to Jstor.

Just tell me what you need me to search for.

 

[Tom]

Basically documents that discuss the etymology of 'c u n t'

The earliest known instance of the word is in the OED in 1230, in a street name (hence the article), but nobody really knows for sure exactly where the word came from - and all I need is a reliable publication of some kind that says just that.

Chances are it didn't come from Old English, and it didn't come from Latin. Anything published that repeats what that blog link suggests.

Try "etymology c u n t"

If you could email me any pdfs you find, that would be fantastic.

/edit - oh and "gropec u n t" on Jstor offers up an interesting paper, that would be useful too.

 

[Wij]

Lots of hits for Gordon Brown I'd imagine.

 

[Cadelin]

Can you pm me your email address. The FH send email link won't let me attach anything.

Edit: I might have to wait a bit to do this search thoroughly. People are wondering what i am doing....

 

[Tom]

Cheers Cadelin, I have sent you a PM. Probably best not to put c u n t in the subject of the email, my spam software may filter it out.

 

[megadave]

An interesting read.

 

[Aoami]

I used to walk down Opie Street in Norwich every week day, never saw a single prozzy Oh how times have changed

 

[taB]

People are reading about it

SHC forum

 

[Tom]

Yes, it created a bit of a shitstorm yesterday, 8 official complaints the last I heard, and a massive discussion on the main talk page:

Talk:Main Page - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It got over 200,000 views though, very good for a main page article. Most of the objections are from the Yanks, surprise surprise.

 

[Jiggs]

Silly buggers, I did do a double take when I saw it yesterday.

The article on Grub Street is pretty good, used to work around there.

 

[Fweddy]

It's an interesting article Tom, I'm glad it got featured. And lol at all the people complaining.

 

[MYstIC G]

Link to FH for the win.

 

[Milkshake]

Even Stephen Fry tweeted about it

 

[MYstIC G]

Twitter / Stephen Fry: Pleasing that http://bit.l ...

For those that can't be arsed to find it.

 

[Tom]

I'd quite happily expand the Barrysworld article, if someone would email me any news cuttings, etc, oh and free up a copy of the old log.

 

[Tom]

By the way GC Lane could well be the third most viewed front page article on Wikipedia ever (behind Barack Obama, and Museum of Bad Art).

So all in all, I'm quite chuffed about it.