Dear Agony Uncle,

When posting a weblink to my friend’s Facebook page, the link showed up with the C-word in the title! This was unintended and shocked and dismayed me, as although it is one of my most favourite words ever, I feel it inappropriate to plaster it in a public domain, especially when associated with a friend’s status. What is the etiquette in publicly posting blasphemy?

Milly Misdemeanor, Paddington

Dear Milly Misdemeanor,

The C-bomb: (English-speaking) Man’s last taboo; a word that always garners attention, good and bad; the final vernacular shock. We’ve come a long way in the past century; from only shooting Elvis Presley from the waist up in the 1950s to the display of actual intercourse in films like John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus in 2006. Whether we’ve departed from the repression of the Victorian era and the fun police of the mid-20th Century for the good remains to be seen, but undeniably, society has embarked into a more liberated and tolerant epoch.

Although the word’s use is still considered vulgar in most circles, with it comes power. Most feminists will argue that its induction into the Hall of Profane is a result of patriarchy—the male’s constant oppression of the yoni and those who possess them—taking a part of the anatomy and making it the worst insult one can call someone. They would also attest that using the word desensitsies it and reclaims its power, as was one of the common themes in the 1996 play, The Vagina Monologues. Just ask Jane Fonda, who dropped the C-bomb last year on live, national television and still managed to floor its presenters even though it was used in context.

So in 2010, if the c-word can still cause offence, how did it all begin? Well, in the Middle Ages, a little street known as Gropecunt Lane was responsible. As early as 1230, the street cropped up like herpes in many English towns where ladies of the night would purvey their wears and their clientele would come to presumably, well, I’ll let you fill in the rest …

From there, its transformation is hazy, however, somewhere along the line, Gropecunt Lane became known as Magpie Lane and the c-word saw next Tuesday and became what it is today.

Its uses in popular culture are wide and varied: from spoonerisms by bands such as Caravan and Metallica—cunning stunts—to political puns. One such example is former Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam who, in a parliamentary session became even more infamous. A member of the opposition, Sir Winton Turnbull shouted, “But I’m a Country member.” Whitlam’s reply? “I remember.”

Cut to 2001 and Madonna’s ‘What It Feels Like for a Girl‘ video directed by then-husband, Guy Ritchie. The song’s—which largely discusses the double standard between men and women—video was criticised for its use of signage on the nursing home featured in the clip.

Today, it appears on newscasts …

… on game shows …

… and even from the mouths of babes …

… but is it every appropriate? In your case, my dear, you have to think ahead of the ramifications. Not everyone might be as liberal-minded and foul-mouthed as you, and although you might use it wittily, with panache, pizazz and proper pronunciation, it still has the ability to shock and offended. Some people are (stupidly) friends with their parents on Facebook and this is one instance where the generation gap is at its most vast. Keep it classy and take it off Facebook: email your link and save yourself from being perceived as four letters: rude.

I do believe there’s more for you to read: