"smack my bitch up"

Posted by Smokey Stover on March 23, 2006

In Reply to: "Smack my bitch up" posted by pamela on March 23, 2006

: : : : meaning of the phrase "bitch something up" and "bitch that up" and "smack my bitch up"

: : : The phrases are neither idioms nor sayings, but a slangy and vulgar form of arguably standard English, with "bitch" as the common element--very "common". In the first two phrases "bitch" is a verb, and the meaning could be charitably related to "muck something up" or "screw that up" if you don't mind vulgarity, while "smack my bitch up" is either a clause or the predicate of a clause in which "my bitch" would normally mean "my woman," which could be a wife, girl-friend, mistress, or temporary companion. Lord, Nikhill, what on earth have you been reading? Whatever it is, stop! SS

: : I fear I wasn't sufficiently explicit about the meanings, especially of "smack my bitch up," which means slap her around a bit. While to bitch something up can scarcely mean anything other than to make a mess of something, I'd really like to see the context to be sure. I think the normal meaning of to bitch would be to complain or belly-ache, as in to bitch AT something. The present participle, bitching (or the usual variant, bitchin'), can be used as an adjective, in which case it means something like difficult, annoying, or surprising (as in surprisingly difficult or even surprisingly good). I could be wrong there, as it's not my linguistic territory. When you say "Life's a bitch," it can mean more than one thing, starting with, it ain't easy, bro. SS

: There is a web page which describes the argument between the Beastie Boys and Prodigy (who sang "Smack my Bitch Up") back in 1998. The Beastie Boys tried to stop Prodigy from singing the song because they said it promoted violence against women. Prodigy claimed that it was an old skool phrase meaning "sort something out" (they didn't convince me). The page is www.brainkiller.it/prodigy/readingincident.html, but I'm sure there are many more sites given the profile that the spat got at the time. Pamela

Thanks, Pamela, for the information. SS