refering to women as female dogs is offensive. how could it be cute or acceptable in a civilised society?

Mary, Sydney, Australia

Banning the Word in the form of a ordinance or other legislative form will not obliterate it's usage. Take a drive back to the twenties and see how succesful Prohibition turned out. Not so Good!
I think the word is degrading when used to describe women. When used in the proper respect as in Dog Shows it is totally appropriate.
What bothers me is the Political Correctness issue we are actually talking about these days. It's not alright to call some one the "N" word; and aparently it's not ok to call some one the "B" word. However, it's deemed perfectly ok to use phrases like "Jesus Christ" and "God Dammed" and others that devalue God and the faith of millions woldwide. What's wrong with this pitcher? Have we gone so far off the path of what is right that everything is acceptable. The world's view is that It's all out there for the world to see and if they do not like it, they should turn their heads or plug their ears? NO! I pesonally value being considerate to other peoples values

Steve, Elmira, Oregon

i think that all of this should be looked into deeper. What happened to our freedom of speech? what happened to the peoples rights? everyone in their lifetime has said the word bitch. its not even a big deal. its a word. when is the government going to stop and realize that they are slowly taking away our natural born rights as american citizens. Arent there child molesters and murderers out there that they could be trying to catch instead of banning words from us? everyone is still going to say it, so why waste the time trying to make it bad, when we could be doing something constructive with our time.

Hope, Silver Creek, New York

Hooray for thoughtcrime! Let's ban words like "very [good]" and "excellent" and instead use terms like "plus [good]" and "doubleplus good" too!

Alan R, Jonesboro, GA, USA

laughing out very loud..
this is crazy talk...
i wonder if the enlightened Darlene noticed the bumble-bee car in the transformers movie..
the little bee toy hanging from the car's rearview mirror says ''bee-otch'' or ''bee-atch''...it was there for a laugh and it worked.. i did.. the wee one i went with didn't twig it.. he's 9..
if it's good enough for the biggest film of the year thus far..
(hoping this doesn't get the movie banned in NYC...)

M Griffiths, London , England

This poor little council-lady is the type that gives feminists a bad name, as she's saying that women are frail little butterflies, ever at the mercy of big bad men. She's a Victorian, and a pathetically puritan one as well, a tight-lipped schoolmarm. Bet she has a tight little bun on her head, wears her black satin floor-length dressed buttoned safely at the collar and likes to rap knuckles with a ruler. It's too bad the Left took over this image from the Right so hungrily. With "brains" like this on the Council, maybe it was a mistake to give women the right to vote after all.

David Pabian, Los Angeles, CA

To attempt to ban centain words simply because someone doesn't like them is absolutely the silliest thing I have ever heard of. As for the word bitch, it is what a female dog is called, period. I have been involved in dog showing & breeding for over 16 years and all dog people refer to their female dogs as bitches, and their favorite ones as the house bitches with a great deal of fondness. There is nothing ugly or objectionable about it. To think otherwise, one would have to assume that person has a warped mind and wants to rewrite the dictionary for us all.

Peg, Brookville, USA

are they serious!? like we don't have more important issues to worry ahout. when they start telling us what and when we can speak we are really in trouble. people better wake up.

s.baker, fayetteville, us/ar

People need to get a grip. A word is a word, is a word. Am I the only one sick of all the tree-hugging, goody-two shoes that are taking over this country? What ever happened to freedom of speech???????

Boo Dooley, Myrtle Beach, USA/SC

trite, cheap political ploy for attention - and the world bites.

DanO, Mount Vernon, USA

For those of us that have to deal with Home Owner Associations and Condo-Commandos, the mentality of Ms. Mealy is all too familiar. This scenario of taking a pet-peeve and escalating it to a "real issue" is simply a display of not understanding how to use your authority. As a function of neighborhood politics it is, at best, annoying. However, when raised to the level of City politics, it begins to consume valuable time and tax dollars. Perhaps Ms. Mealy needs to digress a grade in politics and would be better suited as an officer in her neighborhood government where bad decissions will just be annoying.

Don, Chattanooga,

HO HO HO, Enjoy your jail time Mall Santa.

Max Power, Newark, NJ

You've got to be kidding?! You can't police what people say in their personal conversations. It's common sense to keep your mouth uncluttered with 4 letter words while speaking in a formal gathering, but personal conversations are another thing. What's next, policing your thoughts?

P. Green, Woodbridge, US/VA

If a bitch is a bitch, then its a bitch.

Richard Morgan, Pontllanfraith, Gwent

Is this most pressing problem in NYC? Good to know things are going so well.

JoeM , Rochester, NY

The word bitch is a term of endearment when referring to she who gives birth to many. Its association with canines . . . I have learned urbanly. I say ban the word bitch, and tolerate the next one until we can ban that one from certain modicums of media as well.

M. Coniglio, Gloucester City, US/NJ