This week, New York soup chain Hale and Hearty got diced by its customers after they received a “lewd” and “inappropriate” email from the company’s 47th Street store. Announcing a new soup shop in Livingston, NJ, the hacked H&H newsletter read:
“On Wednesday, January 30, 2008 we will celebrate the opening of our Livingston, NJ location by inviting all our loyal Hale and Hearty customers as well as your friends and family to enjoy a free cup of soup at our newest location at 464 West Mount Pleasant Avenue, Livingston, NJ. As an added bonus: Mary- you know the cunt from 47th street- will serve you personally in any manner you choose. so cum one and all to our new location at 464 West Mount Pleasant Avenue, Livingston, NJ.”
Let us be the first to tell you that we’ve NEVER received a more hilarious and appropriate email from a food chain, EVER. And that’s because the word “cunt”, while totally déclassé to some, has become a commonplace noun among our friends. Instead of referring to a woman’s ladyparts, it’s come to take on a meaning closer to “bastard,” a word many use without regard.
(Photo Via: FashonIndie)
Blame it on the rise of the New York’s ball culture, where artists like House of LaDosha, Mykki Blanco and Zebra Katz are spitting lyrics cut from the culture’s cloth, and getting ink in mainstream mags for doing so. Their vocab words, like “cunt”, “werk” and “read”, are fast-becoming colloquialisms among the downtown New York set; soon to be co-opted and hackneyed by Top 40 artists just as “swagger” and “dope” were from 2009-today.
So instead of apologizing for your emails, Hale and Hearty, own ‘em! Know that words are sometimes only as powerful as you let them be. Hell, consider this a “Hats Off” piece for knowing what’s up on the underground vocab scene…you’re the coolest soup shop around! On a sidenote: Wondering if you can introduce use to that cun* on 47th street one day? We’d love to meet her.
