Bad words

[Mark A Mandel]

On Mon, 8 Jul 2002, Duane Campbell wrote:

#On Mon, 8 Jul 2002 19:21:52 EDT "James A. Landau"
#> 4.  Canine---bitch, son-of-a-bitch
#
#Gotta think about that. It is perhaps related to the German use of
#"schweinhund. "

I have seen, perhaps in MALEDICTA, the hypothesis that "son-of-a-bitch"
originated as a slur on the addressee's mother, and that that is why it
is so much stronger than "pig", "skunk", etc. As a subsequent
supposition, that could be the source of the extra offensiveness of
"bitch".

-- Mark A. Mandel