Link to NY City Council "Bitch & Ho" Resolution

[Dennis R. Preston]

Piss and moan is my normal (Louisville) usage. Mighty close to St.
Louis. Might could be you all stole it from us.

dInIs



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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Link to NY City Council "Bitch & Ho" Resolution
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>Does anyone else recall when "bitch and moan" was "piss and moan"? Or
>was the latter merely a local St. Louis usage?
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 8/7/07, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: Link to NY City Council "Bitch & Ho" Resolution
>>
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>>
>>  On 8/7/07, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>  > Are you referring only to law cases?  "Bitch", noun, in the
>>  > perjorative sense dates from earlier than the 18th century (OED2).
>>  >
>>  > I happen to be on this word because I am tracking down a use of
>>  > "bitch" (verb) = grumble, complain from around 1775 -- OED2 has it as
>>  > 1930- (v.2, sense 3).
>>
>>  Are your 18C attestations clearly in the 'grumble' sense, or could
>>  they possibly mean 'call someone a bitch', as in the 1709 OED cite,
>>  "In wonderful Rage went to Cursing and Bitching"?
>>
>>
>>  --Ben Zimmer
>>
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>
>--
>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-----
>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-4736
preston at msu.edu

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