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The word cant was invented by the Norwegians.

At first, the Oxford English dictionary wouldn't have it in its pages, and even today,

the dictionary describes it as the most taboo word in English.

Norseman said Conta, and the Danes said Conte, as did 9th century Germans, though not seemingly in anger or spite. Apparently, the first known use of the word in English

was in 1230, when an Oxford street was named Grop Cunt Lane.

Paul Dacre, that nice man who edits the Daily Mail,

has become famous in recent times for his use of the phrase double-cunting.

A colleague, usually male, will be ticked off via a thunderous compound deployment of the old Friesian.

You call that a good cunting headline, you can't?

"'Might be a typical start to the afternoon.

"'Daker would call us a load of cunts,' "'the former male crime reporter Tim Miles told Adrian Addison.

"'Or a shower of cunts, it was always cunt this and cunt that.

"'He did like the word cunt.

And yet, in the natural way of things, over time the editor was to grope for other words.

According to one source, he would drop words such as Chardonfreude and hubris

into conversations without apparently fully understanding their meaning, he came to show a weakness

for phrases such as beyond-ponsant, sine qua non, and au contraire. Every day, it seems, was a

growth day for Baby Dacre as he crawled towards full suburban manhood. Imagine the joy of

putting together 96 pages from nothing, he said on Desert Island

...