No its generally taboo, but in certain settings, say footy, building sites, the members bar at old parliament house, it occupies a significant percentage of conversation.
And from a man whoās anything but a cunning linguist.
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I like to refer to the Bundy militia as āa bunch of stupid twats,ā but thatās mocking their cartoonish hypermasculinity rather than any animosity towards women.
āTwitsā wouldnāt work as well? I know it lacks the same punch, but delivering that punch with the other word comes at the cost of perpetuating the life of a sexist slur.
It seems to be much milder in Spanish; I once heard a (female) coworker call our (male) boss ācoƱoā when she was asked a question - Iād probably translate it as āListen, ā¦ā in that context as it didnāt even seem to be seen as impolite (just informal).
No, but he is a master debater.
Maybe I watch too much parliament (my wife would probably say I do), but itās astonishing how people can watch this video clip and not see what is actually happening.
Firstly, Pyne referred to the Leader of The Opposition by his name (Bill Shorten), which is unparliamentary. The Manager of Opposition Business then got up to object to that, but the Speaker had already spotted it and sat him down so that she could direct Pyne to use the proper forms of address.
Pyne makes his controversial comment in between the Speaker telling the Manager of Opposition Business to sit down and her telling Pyne to refer to ministers by their proper titles. Her direction to Pyne was about him saying āBill Shortenā, not anything else.
Do people really think that if the Speaker (and therefore the Opposition Leader and probably some of the Opposition front bench) had heard Pyne call Shorten a cāt that she would have calmly asked him to withdraw and everyone would have left it at that? Anyone who thinks that hasnāt watched much parliament.
Look, people can disagree on what Pyne said. Itās one of those things where if you watch it thinking heās saying grub, it sounds like he is, and if you think heās saying cāt it sounds like he is. What we have here is a mondegreen:
But if you want to believe that Pyne really said cāt, then you have to also believe that NO ONE heard him say it other than the microphone. Otherwise the video makes no sense
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Not around my parts and itās still THE taboo word with everyone I know. You sometimes hear the bogans screaming it at each other drunk and falling over themselves in the street but I assume theyāre the same people who voted for this terrible government so it kind of makes sense.
Iāve had a lot of friends listen to this, and in some cases told them heās saying āgrubā and theyāve burst into laughter because it really doesnāt sound like āgrubā at all. Did he get away with it? Bishop is a terribly biased speaker (I too watch far, far too much Question Time) so I donāt think there was much danger of her being too harsh. The microphones pick up directly what the immediate person speaking says and not so much of the ambient noise (they can virtually shut off the sound to individual members) so it isnāt that surprising that other people couldnāt hear what he said when it is clear to us listening at home.
Now, Iām not saying he absolutely, certainly used that word that upsets my wife terribly, but it does sound an awful lot like it and at the moment, and considering the little creep that he is, Iām prepared to make a judgement that he did, indeed, say the word. And if he didnāt then, no doubt he was thinking something worse, sorry I have no sympathy for Pyne in any circumstances.
Calling Bill Shorten a cunt is the truest thing Christopher Pyne will say this year.
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