Questions of definition. [orichalcum]

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Hey, hoi polloi, I need your help again.

What are your associations with the word (asterisked for work-safeness) "bi--h"?

In particular, do you associate it at all with a woman's sexual behavior, or more with her tendency to be (a la OED) "malicious and treacherous?"

Feel free to use the word in a sentence to try and convey how you would define it.

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There are 17 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

I don't associate it in the slightest with sexual behavior. Entirely the maliciousness.

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That's what I was thinking. Apparently it started out as "loose or lewd woman," but I want to argue that it just doesn't have those connotations these days. Although, oddly, son of a b-h does, in that it still conveys "someone who isn't sure who his father is," not "someone whose mom is really manipulative."

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Hmm, it doesn't convey that to me – just "someone whose mother is a bitch". I suppose it used to have the illegitimacy angle, and might for some people still, but at this point I think it's just an insult whose actual meaning is irrelevant. (In the same way that the amplifier "the fuck" is totally meaningless, e.g. "Get the fuck out of here!")

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Yeah, to me it's just another way to say "yo' mamma's a b--ch".

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Hm. I would tend to agree with Jeff; I don't really hear it associated with a woman's sexual behavior. The OED is pretty standard. In fact I often hear it in its adjectival form, used to describe women and men, but in a way that implies a somehow "womanly" malice: something about complaining a lot and/or being sanctimonious and/or backbiting. So in other words, the sort of behavior that would lead someone to rudely imply that the target "is PMSing."

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If I were to think about it, sexual behavior would be an association, but pretty far down on the list. Along with Jeff's observation on maliciousness, I usually think of female dogs, the middle seat in the back of a car, and just general suckiness.

"Now that O'Connor has retired, Justice Breyer will no longer have the bitch job of answering the door at conference."

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In my parlance, the sexual connotations of "bi--h" depend on an adjoining possessive. So "what a bi--h" or "that bi--h" or "you f--king bi--h" are all about the malice and treachery, while "my bi--h" or "her bi--h" imply a certain sexual submissiveness (which, although of a variety tangled up with femaleness, can belong to any person in a sexually servile position; see, for example, the prison bi--h).

It occurs to me that "say my name, bi--h" is an exception. "I'm Rick James, bi--h" is sort of borderline.

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I concur with most of the above. I don't think of any sexual connotations, except, as redhound points out, in the submissive sense. I certainly don't interpret it as "loose or lewd woman".

And, quite frankly, son of a b----, to me, doesn't actually connotate anything about the person's mother. When I hear "that son of a b----," I generally translate it as "that a--hole".

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Good to know that I appear to be wrong about the male version. The submissive version is interesting, cuz it definitely seems to reflect modern norms more than historical ones. You wouldn't today, say, describe someone as "her wife" meaning "her sexually submissive partner," even though that would have been a legit use a hundred years ago. I wonder how b-h transmuted from dominant to submissive sexually.

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Actually, I heard a similar use of "his wife" the other day. Although it was scripted and so may or may not count as legitimate parlance.

It was used by a prison inmate to describe his relation to another inmate. "I was his wife." In other words, his b----, but with a connotation of affection along with submission.

I be surprised to see a modern usage of that kind outside of a male homosexual context though. In other words, a heterosexual male can introduce his spouse as "his wife" without implying to the casual listener that he's always on top.

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Well, it's a dehumanizing epithet, and hence a disempowering tactic. Applied to an unpleasantly dominant person (because actually, as I think about it, I call people of both sexes "bitch"), it's a way of taking them down a peg; applied to a submissive, it's a way of reiterating that submission.

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I don't find it has any sexual meaning for me; it's just a female a**hole, i.e., malicious and treacherous.

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hoi polloi nuthin, b--ch!

erm..
no sexual connotations here.

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I just occurred to me how odd it is that the verb form ex: "Quit b--ching and moaning!" is never complimentary while the adjective ("Woah! B--chin'!") nearly always is.

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Interesting. You're right. "To b-ch" is "to complain" (but not to be malicious or cruel) whereas "b-in" is just a stronger version of damn, really.

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I wouldn't even know what the sexual connotations of "bitch" were supposed to be.

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This is a day late, but I feel a need to quote some lyrics:

You been bad
Don't do what I say.
You don't listen,
And you never obey.
Try to teach you.
But you just won't be good.
You won't behave the way
A big girl should.
It's time to give the whip a crack.
I'm gonna have to send you back to
Bitch School.
Bitch School.

You're a beaty.
You're the best of your breed.
You're a handful.
And I know what you need.
You need training.
Gonna bring you to heel.
I'm gonna break you with my will of steel.
Discipline's my middle name.
And no one comes back the same from
Bitch School.
Bitch School.

No more sniffing strangers, or running free at night.
You think my bark's bad, honey - wait till you feel my bite.

You got problems.
You whine and you beg.
When I'm busy,
You wanna dance with my leg.
I'm gonna chain you.
Make you sleep out of doors.
You're so fetching when you're down on all fours.
And when you hear your master,
You will come a little faster, thanks to
Bitch School.

There are some sexual connotations there, in addition to general behavior. The sexual connotations run to both "morally loose" and to submission. It's worth noting that the band has stated that the song refers to a dog, which would have been clear if they hadn't cut the 4th verse.

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orichalcum

Questions of definition.

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To further muddy the waters...

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April