Bitch (slang)

History

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term bitch comes from the Old English word bicce or bicge, meaning "female dog", which dates to around 1000 CE. It may have derived from the earlier Old Norse word bikkja, also meaning "female dog".

"Dog" has long been used as an insult toward both women and men. In ancient Greece, dog was often used in a derogatory sense to refer to someone whose behavior was improper or transgressive. This could include shamelessness or lack of restraint, lack of hospitality, lack of loyalty, and indiscriminate or excessive violence, among other qualities. Over time, classicist C. Franco argues, a "persistent symbolic connection" developed between dogs and women in Greek literature that expressed and reinforced women's subordinate position in society and their supposedly inferior nature.

There may also be a connection between less literal senses of "bitch" and the Greek goddess Artemis. As she is the goddess of the hunt, she was often portrayed with a pack of hunting dogs and sometimes transformed into an animal herself. She was seen as free, vigorous, cold, impetuous, unsympathetic, wild, and beautiful.

The earliest use of "bitch" specifically as a derogatory term for women dates to the 15th century. Its earliest slang meaning mainly referred to sexual behavior, according to the English language historian Geoffrey Hughes:

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

Throughout the word's evolution into the nineteenth century, it became gradually less offensive. The Oxford English Dictionary in the nineteenth century described the insult as "strictly a lewd or sensual woman". The word went through many similar phases throughout history. It was not until the 20th century that feminism began to reevaluate the term and its appropriation.

In the 1920s, bitch became once again a common insult used against women. The term bitch became more popular in common language during this era. Between 1915 and 1930, the use of "bitch" in newspapers and literature more than doubled. The writing of Ernest Hemingway popularized the more modern meaning of "bitch" in this era. He used it to represent favorable qualities such as ferocity, edginess, and grit. It was during this time that women began gaining more freedom (such as the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment). The word "bitch" during the twenties meant "malicious or consciously attempting to harm", "difficult, annoying, or interfering", and "sexually brazen or overly vulgar".

According to Dr. Timothy Jay, there are "over 70 different taboo words", but 80 percent of the time only ten words are used, and bitch is included in that set. Being called the term bitch has been associated with worsening the mental health of women.

Modern use

Some early uses of the word in hip-hop music include Duke Bootee's classic 1983 song with Grandmaster Flash, 'New York New York,' and Slick Rick's 'La Di Da Di' (1985), marked the emergence of 'bitch' in hip-hop lyrics. Since then, artists and followers of the culture have frequently used the term, with variations like 'bee-otch' popularized by Oakland-based rapper Too $hort in the late 1980s.

Reaching back to the dozens and dirty blues, early rappers like Slick Rick established the bitch as a character: a woman, often treacherous, but sometimes simply déclassé. N.W.A.'s song 'One Less Bitch' exemplifies misogynistic attitudes, equating women with negative stereotypes such as 'money hungry scandalous groupies.' These lyrics highlight the ongoing tensions within hip-hop culture regarding gender representation and language usage. While some misogynistic rap perpetuates harmful stereotypes of women as 'money-hungry, scandalous, manipulating, and demanding, 'as stated by Adams and Fuller (2006), the word has also been directed towards men, often to denote subordination or perceived inferiority toward "unmanly" or homosexual men. An example of this is the song Bitches 2 by Ice-T, which gives an example of a male "bitch" in each verse.

However, amidst the prevalence of derogatory usage, female hip-hop artists have challenged the word's appropriation by male rappers. Queen Latifah's 1993 track 'U.N.I.T.Y.' confronts this misogyny, demanding, "Who you callin' a bitch?" Similarly, Roxanne Shante and MC Lyte reclaimed the term, with Shante even releasing an album entitled 'The Bitch Is Back' in 1992. Popular culture has inspired women to redefine the word bitch as a euphemism for "Strong black woman". A modern example would be Megan Thee Stallion's track 'B.I.T.C.H.' which exemplifies this; flipping the script to portray 'bitch' as a descriptor of self-respect and autonomy.

In 2016, Kanye West released his seventh studio album called The Life of Pablo. On the song called "Famous" West raps, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous." This sparked a controversy with Taylor Swift as she "cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message." These lyrics highlight the ongoing tensions within hip-hop culture regarding gender. In response to Swift's remarks, West went on Twitter and posted a tweet which said how the word "bitch" is an endearing term in hip hop like the word "nigga".

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. According to James Coyne from the Department of Psychology at the University of California, "'Bitch' serves the social function of isolating and discrediting a class of people who do not conform to the socially accepted patterns of behavior."

Idioms

Son of a bitch

The first known appearance of "son-of-a-bitch" in a work of American fiction is Seventy-Six (1823), a historical fiction novel set during the American Revolutionary War by eccentric writer and critic John Neal. The protagonist, Jonathan Oadley, recounts a battle scene in which he is mounted on a horse: "I wheeled, made a dead set at the son-of-a-bitch in my rear, unhorsed him, and actually broke through the line."

The term's 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. in 2008 extolled the virtues of "son of a bitch" (particularly in comparison to "asshole") in common speech and deed. Son of a bitch can also be used as a "how about that" reaction, or as a reaction to excruciating pain.

In politics the phrase "Yes, he is a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a bitch" has been attributed, probably apocryphally, to various U.S. presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Richard Nixon. Immediately after the detonation of the first atomic bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico, in July 1945 (the device codenamed Gadget), the Manhattan Project scientist who served as the director of the test, Kenneth Tompkins Bainbridge, exclaimed to Robert Oppenheimer "Now we're all sons-of-bitches."

In January 2022, U.S. president Joe Biden was recorded on a hot mic responding to Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asking, "Do you think inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms?" Biden responded sarcastically, saying, "It's a great asset—more inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch."

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

The Curtiss SB2C, a World War II U.S. Navy dive bomber, was called "Son-of-a-Bitch 2nd Class" by some of its pilots and crewmen.

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.

Other forms

When used as a verb, to bitch means to complain. Usage in this context is almost always pejorative in intent. As an adjective, the term sometimes has a meaning opposite its usual connotations. Something that is bitching (the bitch) is really great. For example, an admired motorcycle may be praised as a "bitchin' bike".

References

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