Bitch (insult)

Bitch, literally meaning a female dog, is a slang pejorative for a person, commonly a woman, who is belligerent, unreasonable, malicious, a control freak, rudely intrusive or aggressive. When applied to a man, bitch is a derogatory term for a subordinate.

Its original use as a vulgarism, documented to the fourteenth century, suggested high sexual desire in a woman, comparable to a dog in heat. The range of meanings has expanded in modern usage. In a feminist context, it can indicate a strong or assertive woman.

History

The term "bitch" comes from the 1150 word bicche, which was developed from the Old English word bicce. It also may have been derived from the Old Norse word bikkja for "female dog". The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term meaning "female dog" to around 1000 A.D.^[1]

As a derogatory term for women, it has been in use since the fourteenth^[2] or fifteenth century.^[1] Its earliest slang meaning mainly referred to sexual behavior, according to the English language historian Geoffrey Hughes:^[3]

The early applications were to a promiscuous or sensual woman, a metaphorical extension of the behavior of a bitch in heat. Herein lies the original point of the powerful insult son of a bitch, found as biche sone ca. 1330 in Arthur and Merlin ... while in a spirited exchange in the Chester Play (ca. 1400) a character demands: "Whom callest thou queine, skabde bitch?" ("Who are you calling a whore, you miserable bitch?").

"Bitch" remained a strong insult through the nineteenth century. The entry in Francis Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785) reads :

A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman, even more provoking than that of whore, as may be gathered from the regular Billinsgate or St Giles answer--"I may be a whore, but can't be a bitch."^[4]

Modern use

In modern usage the slang term bitch has different meanings depending largely on social context and may vary from very offensive to endearing,^[1] and as with many slang terms its meaning and nuances can vary depending on the region in which it is used.

The term can refer to a person or thing that is very difficult, as in "Life's a bitch." It is common for insults to lose intensity as their meaning broadens ("bastard" is another example).^[3] In the film The Women (1939), Joan Crawford could only allude to the word: "And by the way, there's a name for you ladies, but it isn't used in high society - outside of a kennel." At the time, use of the actual word would have been censored by the Hays Office. By 1974, Elton John had a hit single (#4 in the U.S. and #14 in the U.K.) with "The Bitch Is Back", in which he says "bitch" repeatedly. It was, however, censored by some radio stations.^[5] On late night U.S. television, the character Emily Litella (1976-1978) on Saturday Night Live (portrayed by Gilda Radner) would frequently refer to Jane Curtin under her breath at the end of their Weekend Update routine in this way: "Oh! Never mind...! Bitch!"

Modern use can include self-description, often as an unfairly difficult person. For example, in the New York Times bestseller The Bitch in the House, a woman describes her marriage: "I'm fine all day at work, but as soon as I get home, I'm a horror....I'm the bitch in the house."^[6] Boy George admitted "I was being a bitch" in a falling out with Elton John.^[7]

Generally, the term is still considered offensive, and not accepted in formal situations. According to linguist Deborah Tannen, "Bitch is the most contemptible thing you can say about a woman. Save perhaps the four-letter C word."^[8] It's common for the word to be censored on Prime time TV, often rendered as "the b-word". During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, a John McCain supporter referred to Hillary Clinton by asking, "How do we beat the bitch?" The event was reported in censored format:^[9]

On CNN's "The Situation Room," Washington Post media critic and CNN "Reliable Sources" host Howard Kurtz observed that "Senator McCain did not embrace the 'b' word that this woman in the audience used." ABC reporter Kate Snow adopted the same locution. On CNN's "Out in the Open," Rick Sanchez characterized the word without using it by saying, "Last night, we showed you a clip of one of his supporters calling Hillary Clinton the b-word that rhymes with witch." A local Fox 25 news reporter made the same move when he rhymed the unspoken word with rich.

Rick Sanchez of CNN went on to comment: "...a horrible word that is used to do nothing but demean women... Obviously, the word that's used here is very offensive."^[10]

Reappropriation

In the context of modern feminism, "bitch" has varied reappropriated meanings that may connote a strong female (anti-stereotype of weak submissive woman), cunning (equal to males in mental guile), or else it may be used as a tongue-in cheek backhanded compliment for someone who has excelled in an achievement.^[12][13][14] For example, Bitch magazine describes itself as a "feminist response to pop culture".^[15]

Feminist attorney Jo Freeman (Joreen) authored the "Bitch manifesto" in 1968:^[16][17]

A Bitch takes shit from no one. You may not like her, but you cannot ignore her....[Bitches] have loud voices and often use them. Bitches are not pretty....Bitches seek their identity strictly thru themselves and what they do. They are subjects, not objects...Often they do dominate other people when roles are not available to them which more creatively sublimate their energies and utilize their capabilities. More often they are accused of domineering when doing what would be considered natural by a man.

Pop culture

In a 2006 interview titled "Pop Goes the Feminist", Bitch magazine co-founder Andi Zeisler explained the naming of the magazine:^[12]

When we chose the name, we were thinking, well, it would be great to reclaim the word "bitch" for strong, outspoken women, much the same way that "queer" has been reclaimed by the gay community. That was very much on our minds, the positive power of language reclamation.

Pop culture contains a number of slogans of self-identification based on "bitch". For example,

• "You call me 'Bitch' like it's a bad thing."
• "I go zero to bitch in 3.5 seconds."

There are several backronyms. Heartless Bitches International is a club with the slogan "Because we know BITCH means: Being In Total Control, Honey!" Other imagined acronyms include

• "Beautiful Intelligent Talented Creative Honest"
• "Beautiful Individual That Causes Hardons" ^[18]
• "Babe In Total Control of Herself".^[19]

Hip hop culture

One early rapper to use the word bitch on record was Duke Bootee on his classic 1983 song with Grandmaster Flash, "New York New York" ("He says he ain't gonna pay no child support / because the bitch left him without a second thought.") However, it is sometimes claimed that Slick Rick's "La Di Da Di" (1985) was the first rap song to use the term.^[20] Since the late 1980s, the word bitch has been frequently used among hip-hop artists and followers of the culture, which can be said as "bee-otch", spelled like Biotch, Beyotch, Beotch, etc.^[21] One of the first artists to popularize the pronunciation as beeatch or biatch as a refrain in the late 1980s was Oakland-based rapper Too $hort.

Adams and Fuller (2006) state that, in misogynistic rap, a bitch is a "money-hungry, scandalous, manipulating, and demanding woman".^[21] However, the word bitch is also frequently used (by male rappers) towards other men in rap lyrics, usually to describe a man who is a subordinate or homosexual, or a man who is supposedly unmanly or inferior in some way.^[22]

Some female hip hop artists have challenged male rappers' use of the word bitch to refer to women, with Queen Latifah asking in her 1993 song "U.N.I.T.Y.": "Who you callin' a bitch?"^[23][24] Other female rappers from the same era frequently used the term to refer to themselves and/or others, notably Roxanne Shante (who even made a 1992 album entitled The Bitch Is Back) and MC Lyte.

In reference to men

When used to describe a male, "bitch" may also confer the meaning of subordinate, especially to another male, as in prison. Generally, this term is used to indicate that the person is acting outside the confines of their gender roles, such as when women are assertive or aggressive, or when men are passive or servile.

In the context of prison sexuality, a bitch is a lower-hierarchy prisoner, typically physically weak or vulnerable, who is dominated by more senior prisoners and forced to adopt a servile role. According to convention, these inmates are used as sexual slaves or traded as personal property.^[25]

A "prison bitch" can also refer to any subservient entity, as in the Douglas Rushkoff description of a Microsoft - Yahoo partnership: "Yahoo is merely hooking up with the most alpha male company it can still find in order to survive. Microsoft will soon turn Yahoo into its prison bitch, and this won’t be pretty." ^[26]

In Russian criminal slang, by contrast, a "bitch" (suka, pl. suki in Russian) is a person from the criminal world who has cooperated with law enforcement or the government. Suki were placed on the bottom of the prisoner hierarchy. As the definition of "cooperation" was not confined to snitching, but included any form of collaboration, World War II veterans returning to prison were declared suki, leading to the post-WW2 Bitch Wars.

Idioms

Son of a bitch

The term son of a bitch is a form of profanity usually used to refer to a man who is nasty, rude or otherwise offensive. In Shakespeare's King Lear (1603), the Earl of Kent refers to Oswald as:^[27] "...nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch..." In Act II Scene I of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, Ajax strikes Thersites, yelling "Thou bitch-wolf's son, canst thou not hear?"^[28]

Its use as an insult is as old as that of "bitch". Euphemistic terms are often substituted, such as "gun" in the phrase "son of a gun" as opposed to "son of a bitch", or "s.o.b." for the same phrase. Like "bitch", the severity of the insult has diminished. Roy Blount, Jr. recently extolled the virtues of "son of a bitch" (particularly in comparison to "asshole") in common speech and deed.^[29]

The 19th-century British racehorse Filho da Puta took its name from 'Son of a bitch' in Portuguese.

Bitch slap

The term "bitch slap" is derived from American slang. In the original sense, a bitch slap is a powerful, full-swing slap in the face with the front of the hand, evoking the way an angry pimp might slap a defiant prostitute (not to be confused with a pimp slap which uses the back of the hand). However, the term is now frequently used figuratively to describe a humiliating defeat or punishment.

• The dictionary definition of bitch slap at Wiktionary

Riding bitch

"Riding bitch" is a slang term for riding pillion, sitting behind the driver on a motorcycle. It can also refer to sitting between others in a car.^[30]

In cards

To have the "bitch end" of a hand in poker is to have the weaker version of the same hand as another player. This situation occurs especially in poker games with community cards. For example, to have a lower straight than one's opponent is to have the bitch end.

"The bitch" is slang for the queen of spades.^[31]

Other forms

When used as a verb, to bitch means to complain. Usage in this context is almost always pejorative in intent. Allegedly, it was originally used to refer to the stereotypical wife's constant complaints about petty things, effectively tying in the etymology with the vulgar slang for an unpleasant woman.^[32]

As an adjective, the term sometimes has a meaning opposite its usual connotations. Something that is bitching or bitchin' is really great. For example, an admired motorcycle may be praised as a "bitchin' bike".^[33]

Equivalent words in other languages

A number of other languages, such as Swedish, Hungarian, and Slavic languages like Russian use their word for female dog in the same vulgar manner (Swedish: 'hynda', Russian: 'сука' súka, Hungarian: 'szuka'), although they are not used as often as other words generally referring to prostitutes (in Slovak, Czech and Hungarian it is 'kurva', and in Polish it is 'kurwa').

See also

Look up bitch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• "Bitch" (Law & Order)
• Bitch (magazine)
• "Bitch" (Meredith Brooks song)
• Third-wave feminism

References

Further reading

• Why Women Who Succeed Are Called Bitch by Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald, November 2007.
• Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel
• The B-Word? You Betcha., The Washington Post
• Why Men Marry Bitches: A Woman's Guide to Winning Her Man's Heart by Sherry Argov
• Hughes, Geoffrey. Encyclopedia of Swearing : The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-Speaking World. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2006.
• The Bitch in the House: 26 Women Tell the Truth about Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage, Cathy Hanaeur, ed., reviews in the Atlantic (magazine) by Sandra Tsing Loh