[Vocabulary] what is the meaning of "the real bitch"?

[mokbon]

Hello

Sorry if it concerns you for a unpleasant slang word..
but I want to know everything even though it is bad one.
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Sean : Well, it's art, Monet. It wasn't very good.
Will : That's not really what concerns me though.
Sean : What concerns you?
Will : Just the coloring.
Sean : You know what the real bitch of it is? It's paint-by-number.
Will : Is it color-by-number? Because the colors are fascinating to me.
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What is the meaning of "bitch" in this situation?
problem? or point? help me

 

[Barb_D]

The aspect that is sad, disappointing, annoying, causing dismay -- the part that is a "bummer"

 

[Coolfootluke]

I am not a teacher.

Good Will Hunting, again. Good movie.

The expression you want is "the (real) bitch of it is ...." You have found some deep vulgar slang. Bear with me, please.

Let's look at "bitch". The ordinary word means "female dog". It is easy to see how this came to be used as an insult to a woman. It is often a rather empty term of abuse, but it usually implies that the woman is vicious. If you say, "She can be a real bitch", you mean that sometimes she will harm you (usually not physically) and be unreasonable. "She can be a real bitch" is a vulgar, insulting way to say that she can be difficult. As you can imagine, to apply the same insult to a man would be doubly offensive, and it is.

Other things can "be a bitch" by extension. Trigonometry is a bitch. English idiom is a real bitch. They are difficult, but not in the same way that [STRIKE]my wife[/STRIKE] a woman can be. Serious things can't be a bitch. Bubonic plague cannot be a bitch. The term when used of the inanimate is jocular.

The parent expression of "the bitch of it is" is "the worst of it is", which is idiomatic, which means that there is no explaining it. "The worst of it is" means something like "the aspect of it that presents the most difficulty or unpleasantness is", and so does the vulgar version. Sean has added "real" to the base expression as an intensifier, as is often done.