Question RE: Definition of a certain "hot button" phrase...

[truebrit71]

..above and beyond the fact that I think it is ridiculous to have EIGHT posts about one friggin' word I have a question regarding the definition.

My definition of bitch-slap is when two chicks fight they slap as opposed to punch one another. Some suggest that is incorrect and it actually refers to a pimp beating on the 'merchandise' without damaging 'it'...

My question is this....wouldn't that be a 'pimp-slap' and not a 'bitch-slap'...??

If you find either phrase offensive, my apologies, but seeing as how we seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time on this specious topic I just wanted some clarification....

Thank you....

BTW, for the humour-impaired please be advised that the use of your "sarcasm" button will aid you enormously when reading this post....

[Dookus]

1. there seems to be disagreement

I had NEVER heard the word used to mean "Hitting a woman" before the arguments here on DU. It had always meant "to hit like a woman", to me. I had looked up various definitions that agreed with me. But now people quote a user-created dictionary to show the other meaning. :shrug:

[ant]

2. are you talking about urbandictionary?

I'm just wondering waht the "user created dictionary" is.

In any case, OED does have a definition for it:

As a verb: trans. To deliver a stinging slap to (a person), esp. in order to humiliate one regarded as inferior.

As a noun: A stinging slap or blow, esp. one delivered to humiliate a person regarded as inferior.

I believe the bitch=woman=inferior part is the problem here.

However, I also found this (http://www.askoxford.com/pressroom/archive/?view=uk - click on "new words in the Oxford English Dictionary"):

bitch-slap
• verb US informal deliver a stinging blow to (someone), typically in order to humiliate them: I would have bitch-slapped him for talking that way.
- ORIGIN 1990s: originally black English, referring to a woman hitting or haranguing her male partner.


So, it seems that the origin does come from women hitting men, but the definition used now is about hitting inferiors, which goes with the pimp sort of interpretation, which is what I've always understood it as.