Did they say that..?

ccarver30 · May 15, 2007

Where I can I find out if certain words were used in a specific time and place? I want to call someone a "bitch" but I am not sure the word would mean the same exact thing in 19c. England as it does today.
Help, please and thank you!

Stacia Kane · May 15, 2007

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

That's the site I use (because I can't afford a really good etymology dictionary). It's excellent.

batgirl · May 15, 2007

I have a copy of the complete OED - you can find the 2 vol set with magnifying glass pretty easily on ebay. Or there's a sort of condensed version with some (not all) of the quotes that shows up quite cheaply - I can't think of the exact title, it's 12 thinnish volumes.
I'd guess that in the 19th c. 'bitch' was used by quite respectable people to mean a female dog, and wouldn't have the suggestion of vindictiveness it now has, female dogs being placid creatures overall. Maybe 'harridan'? 'shrew'? 'fishwife'?
-Barbara

Cathy C · May 15, 2007

OED = Oxford English Dictionary (for those unfamiliar with the abbreviation.) Many writers and editors prefer it over Webster's for the superior details, such as when the word came into usage.

ccarver30 · May 15, 2007

Ha ha, I had "shrew" in there but I need something more mean. LOL
Thanks for the help, you two!!

ccarver30 · May 15, 2007

It says:

"BITCH. A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman, even more provoking than that of whore." ["Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1811]

san_remo_ave · May 15, 2007

Here's another link you might try. It's called The Vulgar Tongue and has slang from the British underworld, circa 1811.

http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Grose-VulgarTongue/

bitch (Grose 1811 Dictionary)A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman, even more provoking than that of whore, as may he gathered from the regular Billinsgate or St. Giles’s answer—“I may be a whore, but can’t be a bitch.”

Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.

ccarver30 · May 16, 2007

So, bitch it is! Thanks everyone.

Writing Jedi · May 16, 2007

ccarver30 said:
So, bitch it is! Thanks everyone.

Okay, that is just funny. Where else but on a writers' site would you read such a post. LOL.

Thank you for posting this question, because the answers have been very helpful for me as well.

Did they say that..?

ccarver30

Nicole Castro

Stacia Kane

Girl Detective

batgirl

Writting broad

Cathy C

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

ccarver30

Nicole Castro

ccarver30

Nicole Castro

san_remo_ave

Back at it

ccarver30

Nicole Castro

Writing Jedi