[General] Not to be confused with pussy

[Cushe]

I read an interview with Clint Eastwood recently, one of the questions is as follows.

Q: Politically, you're the Anti-Pussy party?
A: Yeah, I'm anti–the pussy generation. Not to be confused with pussy.

My understanding about "Not to be confused with pussy" is that Clint Eastwood emphasizes that he is not a pussy.
However, I am told that the meaning is actually more like he is anti–the pussy generation, but he doesn't mean women or female sexual organs here.
I would like to have opinions from experts. Many thanks!

 

[Skrej]

First of all, be aware that the term is considered vulgar and offensive by many people when used in this context. It's probably on par with the F-word in terms of offending some people.

The word has several meanings, and the conversation is making a play on both of the vulgar meanings.

Used in the vulgar contexts, it can refer to either the female pudendum or a weak, cowardly, man. So in the first instance, where he's anti-p*ssy, he's referring to the second definition. He considers one political party to be weak and cowardly, and he's against not only that political party, but states he's from a generation that was against anything weak or cowardly - a macho generation if you will.

He then plays on the the first definition, to state being a p*ssy is not to be confused with a woman's nether regions, insinuating that that kind of p*ssy is a good thing, something that a "real man" would enjoy.

It's sort of double entendre about being manly and macho.

Of course, there's a third, innocent definition of pussy, which is another term for a cat (short for 'pussy cat'),which doesn't come into play in this context.

 

[Tdol]

Is it that offensive in AmE? I would place it lower down the scale in BrE.

 

[GoesStation]

Is it that offensive in AmE? I would place it lower down the scale in BrE.

Pussy is quite offensive in AmE when it means "pudendum". I'd list it in the moderately-offensive lexicon when it means "weak man".

 

[Tdol]

Thanks- it's not that strong a word for the former case in BrE, and could be used affectionately.

 

[GoesStation]

Thanks- it's not that strong a word for the former case in BrE, and could be used affectionately.

I've noticed that Brits use another word for vagina quite freely, although the same word is extremely offensive in AmE.

 

[Tdol]

That one is not often used for the vagina, but it does not carry anything the taboo load that it has in AmE, and you will hear it used freely in places like London pubs.

 

[Boris Tatarenko]

Are you talking about "c*unt", right?

 

[Raymott]

That's not the right way to censor a word. What you've written is 'count' (or something) with the 'o' starred out. But you needn't try again.