On 16 Nov 2006 at 10:21, Hal Bush wrote:

> isn't it ironic that we are quibbling over a slang word (granted,
> one that is indeed possibly offensive to some)...

I do find the word offensive. What does it mean? It is used in phrases
like "I'll bitchslap some sense into you," which means in proper English,
"I'll beat you like I would beat a woman until you agree with me." When
Terrell used the word, did he mean to trivialize violence against women
by using it in a discussion of written abuse? Or did he just adopt it as a
hip word, implying in the process that violence against women is hip?
Maybe he didn't mean either, in which case he shouldn't have used that
word.

Many people seem to use that word without thinking about what it
means. Similarly, people casually say "this sucks," "that sucks," "he
sucks," "she sucks" or "you suck." But what do they suck? If it was
spelled out, that wouldn't be used so frequently. Bitchslap is different
because you cannot say the word without conveying the full meaning,
whether intended or not. It reminds me of Chinese characters, most of
which are made up of two images, one on the left and one on the right,
that combine to form a word with a complex meaning. In this case, the
word is a combination of "derogatory word for woman" and "strike with
an open fist." The word might be used less frequently if people had to
draw that out as a pictograph.

Jim Zwick