Link to NY City Council "Bitch & Ho" Resolution

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 7/31/07, Bapopik at aol.com <Bapopik at aol.com> wrote:

> "Tis Pity. This is being considered by the "Committee on Civil Rights"--a
> committee with obviously a lot of time on its hands.
> ...
> _http://www.nyccouncil.info/issues/current_resos.cfm?ID=Res%200960-2007&HISTORY=YES_
>
[snip]
> Whereas, The  Council recognizes that the word "bitch," primarily defined by
> the American Heritage Dictionary as  "female canine animal, especially a dog,"
> carries a legitimately non-pejorative  definition, but the Council further
> recognizes that in 1811, Francis Grose, in  his "Dictionary of the Vulgar
> Tongue," described "bitch" as "A she dog, or  doggess; the most offensive
> appellation that can be given to an English woman,  even more provoking than that of
> whore," thus documenting a long-standing  tradition of the word's use for
> purposes of degradation;
[snip]

It's nice to see Captain Grose getting hauled out to settle disputes
on 21st-century pejorative usage in NYC, even if they're relying on
the posthumous revision of his 1785 dictionary. I suspect the
resolution writers consulted the Wikipedia entry for "bitch" to supply
the Grose entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitch


--Ben Zimmer

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