Banning bitch and ho: If words are outlawed, only outlaws will have words

[Dennis Baron]

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Web of Language:

Banning bitch and ho: If words are outlawed, only outlaws will have  
words

Eighteen members of New York’s City Council have sponsored a  
resolution to ban the use of bitch and ho as “hateful language [that]  
creates for all women a paradigm of shame and indignity.”.... It  
joins an earlier resolution for a moratorium “on the use of the ‘N’  
word in New York City.”...

There’s a growing national movement to ban these three words.  On  
August 7, the Rev. Al Sharpton staged “day of outrage” demonstrations  
in 20 U.S. cities, drawing “dozens of protestors” according to Black  
PR Wire.  As part of his “Decency Initiative,” Sharpton, who wants to  
rid the music industry of bitch, ho, and the n-word, has also been  
championing a bill that would withdraw New York State’s employee  
pension funds – as much as $3 billion – from media giants like  
Viacom, Vivendi and Time Warner whose music perpetuates the banned  
words...

to find out why banning words isn't likely to succeed, go to

the Web of Language

www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage


Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron

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