[livius]

A language that uses coño (the real C word) as a routine expletive has different standards...this is less common in peninsula Spanish, but incredibly common in Latin American Spanish, and I've heard all sorts of people, including cultivated women, use it.

Still, I don't see anything wrong in Palin's use of cojones. Probably in English she would have said guts, but everybody in the US now knows what cojones are, so I don't think there's anything wrong with her using this word. It's just the American English language adopting another useful foreign loan word (like pizza...).

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

I don’t use coño. I can’t get myself to use that word. “Ajo” or “caramba” are as far as I go. Oh, sometimes “que vaina” slips out, but that is at home.

[Publius6961]

A language that uses coño (the real C word) as a routine expletive has different standards...this is less common in peninsula Spanish, but incredibly common in ...

I learned that "c" word in Spain.
I spent, cummulatively, two or three years in Spain between 1970 and 1990.

The word is common across the entire country, all classes, professions and ages : from politicians to gypsy children...

[Grams A]

Probably in English she would have said guts.”

IMO, guts, spineless, etc. are overused and have lost their impact! She chose the one word that totally fits the person, occasion and situation and there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind as to the point she was making.