NYC May Ban the 'B-Word'

City council wants to nix 'bitch' from New Yorkers' vocab
By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 7, 2007 3:38 PM CDT
NYC May Ban the 'B-Word'
B-Word defenders such as Village Voice columnist Michael Musto dismiss the symbolic legislation as absurd. %u201CHalf my conversation would be gone."   (David Shankbone; Wikimedia Commons)

The "N-word" was the first to go, earlier this year, and now New York's city council wants to impose a citywide symbolic ban on another dirty word: bitch. The councilwoman who jump-started the initiative calls the slur "a vile attack on our womanhood," but plenty of New Yorkers disagree. It all depends on context, the Times reports.

"Bitch" technically refers to a female dog, but the dictionary says it's no longer "in decent use." The council is looking to nix it along with another hip-hop librettist favorite, "ho." One stand-up comic says a real ban would keep her from working: "You may as well just say to me, don't even use the word 'the.'" (More language stories.)

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