?

The "f" word, the four-letter word for feces, four and five letter words for "penis," even words like "boobs," and the three letter word for "behind" plus others are more or less accepted. They cause no special notice when used in many conversations. Even the "n" word for African-Americans can be used by African-Americans humorously, with some edge but no special angst (obviously if used as a racial epithet the case is different). It is found in _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn._ One hears some of these words on television.

However, notwithstanding its use in _Lady Chatterley's Lover_ and in Eve Ensler's _The Vagina Monologues,_ this "c" term has so far proved unsalvagable. Shakespeare plays with it in _Hamlet,_ though obliquely. Does it have to do with its sound? Why has the word continued to be one viewed with opprobrium? What sets it apart from other terms, scatological, objectionable, upsetting, or otherwise offensive?