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The actress -- who plays Sue Storm/Invisible Woman in the upcoming film 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' -- was left stunned after a journalist complimented her performance with a term she had never heard of, before her co-star Pedro Pascal broke down the slang word.
It looks like Vanessa Kirby has learned a new popular slang term.
While speaking with Australian outlet Pedestrian TV during the press tour for The Fantastic Four: First Steps alongside her co-star Pedro Pascal, the actress was left stunned after the journalist complimented her performance by using a word she apparently had never heard used before in this context: "c--ty."
The interviewer brought up how Kirby -- who plays Sue Storm/Invisible Woman in the upcoming Marvel film -- has gone viral for footage of her character using her superpowers to create force fields while fighting.
"You've kind of become a social media icon for your force field, snatched, c--ty, fierce face," the journalist said to Kirby, who appeared confused, seemingly unaware of what "c--ty face" means.
Meanwhile, Pascal -- who stars as her on-screen husband Dr. Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic -- chimed in, "F--k yeah!"
"Oh god. I don't know if that's a good thing?" a shocked Kirby asked, to which the journalist and Pascal assured her that it's a compliment.
"C--ty face is good, babe," Pascal said after Kirby asked if it had to do with sunglasses. "It means fierce, fabulous, beautiful, strong. It's good. It's good. Promise."
Fans took to the comments section of the now-viral clip on TikTok, praising Pascal for his reaction and for explaining the term to Kirby.
"I LOVE HIM PLEASE HE IS GIRLY POP," a user wrote, using another popular Gen Z slang word.
"Pedro explaining girl slang to a woman is crazy 😂," a second commenter said, while another joked, "Not daddy Pedro educating Vanessa 😅."
Another user said Pascal is "so in queer media," as several others said the actor needs to appear as a celebrity judge on RuPaul's Drag Race.
While the word "c--t" has long been regarded as an offensive curse word, it has gained widespread popularity -- particularly through the use of phrases like "serving c--t" or, in this case, "c--ty" -- to mean someone is "giving femininity," linguist Adam Aleksic told Glamour.
Aleksic noted that the word became more popular through RuPaul's Drag Race and the queer community, and in other forms of media.
It's also worth noting that while the c-word has been considered widely offensive in America, it's long been used in popular slang in the UK, where Kirby is from, and Australia, where the interview took place.
"Social context is super important. It has this hugely negative association in America, particularly because of how it’s been used to target marginalized communities," Aleksic said. "But in Australia, c--t is used as a general word of endearment sometimes; it’s less negative, so there’s less of that social context."
"It's being used on shows like The Boys, so you could say Australian media is seeping into American culture; maybe that also serves to normalize the word," he added. "I definitely think that could play a part. You can’t separate media from the equation. We build our perceptions of words from the media we consume."
