Dear teachers,
Would you be kind enough to tell me whether I am right with my interpretation of the expressions in bold in the following sentences?
Excuse me for the word, but you have bitched the whole business.
bitch = spoil, harm, damage
Why did you have to bitch everything up by telling John about the arrangements I made for his leaving party?
Thanks for your efforts.
Regards,
V.
Hi, Vil,
This is not a meaning of the word bitch which I've come across before.
Rover
Last edited by Offroad; 17-Jul-2010 at 22:44. Reason: added synonym
I listen to the radio and watch (too much) TV in the US all the time, and I have NEVER heard this used.
I think you are confusing it with the word "botch" (a completely unrelated word).
If you botch something [up], you've ruined it.
You've made a total botch out of it.
As a verb, per Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online to foul up hopelessly —often used with up
As a noun, something that is botched : mess
I'm not a teacher, but I write for a living. Please don't ask me about 2nd conditionals, but I'm a safe bet for what reads well in (American) English.
Check this out:
definition of 'bitch up' by the free dictionary
Last edited by Offroad; 18-Jul-2010 at 01:53.
My first thought would be that you have funny pronunciation of the word "botch" and my second thought would indeed be that you're a vulgar person.
I strongly suggest you don't use this.
I'm not a teacher, but I write for a living. Please don't ask me about 2nd conditionals, but I'm a safe bet for what reads well in (American) English.
I will keep silent.
bitch
bitch v.2 [perh. f. bitch sb.1 sense 1. ]
1. trans. To hang back. rare.
· 1777 Burke Letter in Corresp. (1844) II. 157 Norton [Speaker] bitched a little at last; but though he would recede, Fox stuck to his motion.
2. trans. To spoil, to bungle. Also const. up. Cf. botch v.1 Hence 'bitched(-up) ppl. a., spoilt, bungled. colloq.
· 1823 Jon Bee Slang 10 To bitch a business, to spoil it, by aukwardness, fear, or want of strength.
· 1856 C. Reade Never too Late to Mend III. iii. 18 You will bitch my schemes and lose your fifty pounds.
· 1928 Hecht & MacArthur Front Page iii. 150 You've just bitched up my whole life!
· 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Companions ii. vi. 400 She [sc. a bus-engine] was bitching 'erself up all along.
· 1931 Kipling Limits & Renewals (1932) 197 'Reg'lar lower-deck palaver. Jemmy damned 'em all for bitchin' the evolution.
· 1932 H. Nicolson Public Faces viii. 201 Yes, that charming M. Cocquebert has, for you will excuse the word, bitched the whole business.
· 1937 E. St. V. Millay Conv. at Midnight ii. 58 Can't you let the poor benighted bitched-up country go to hell in peace?
· 1958 J. Wain Contenders 188, I was in a hurry to..begin the hunt for Ned, before Robert had a chance to do anything to bitch it up.
· 1960 R. Daniel Death by Drowning xv. 225 But for a squall bitching his escape route..he would be in France.
http://www.roxanne.org/~maeve/bitch.html
Regards,
V.