The Dumbest Thing I've Ever Researched/Argued For
I recently wrote a small piece of about “Diddy Blogs” for the NYTimes and was told they wouldn’t print the word “bitchassness” in reference to Diddy Blog #10: Bitchassness Alert Level Orange. I thought they should keep it in, so I sent this email to them:
Hello,
I couldn’t figure out a workaround for Bitchassness. However, I have done research and you should print it. Here’s my argument.
The word is BITCH-ASS-NESS. It’s a fake word made up by Diddy, who I’m writing about. The Times has printed several similar expletives in past situations not much different from this one. See below:
BITCH
The Times has printed the word “bitch” several times. Here are some examples where the word “bitch” was printed because it was in the title of a piece of work.
When reviewing the book “Skinny Bitch in the Kitchen”:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/dining/02skin.html?scp=9&sq=bitch&st=cse
And in the theatre review of “Patriotic Bitch”:
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/theater/reviews/14patr.html?scp=8&sq=bitch&st=cse
I’m reviewing Diddy’s work in the piece and referring to a title of a specific piece of work, just as in those pieces.
Maureen Dowd also used the word bitch when quoting someone in an op-ed about Hillary:
“And unfortunately for Hillary, there’s no White Bitch Month.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/opinion/13dowd.html?scp=4&sq=bitch&st=cse
I, like Maureen, am quoting someone who is being vulgar as an essential part of my piece.
ASS
The word “ass” comes up with over 10,000+ results in a search on NYTimes.com. It’s been used numerous times in the context of reviewing a piece of work with “ass” in the title as well.
KICK-ASS
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/washington/raceprofile_NEWYORK20.html?scp=1&sq=kickass&st=cse
This piece mentions how Congressmen John Sweeney was nicknamed “Congressman Kick-Ass”
“Kick-ass” is not too far off from “Bitch-ass” and I already showed we have several instances of Bitch being printed in the Times. Once again, “Kick-ass” is in the context of a quotation, which is the same thing I’m trying to do.
Based on all this information and research, hopefully you can stretch the standards to allow “Bitchassness” to be printed. The word is in the title of a piece of work I’m writing about and is part of a quote that is essential to undestanding the subject of my piece
I’d also like to add, this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever argued for/researched in my life.
Let me know your thoughts,
- Aziz
