The word means female dog.
If you read the James Herriot books (All Things Wise and Wonderful, All Things Bright and Beautiful, etc.), you will see this word often, as it is a word that veterinarians use (at least back then). How many of you would rip the pages out of these wonderful, touching, and extremely worthwhile books? On the contrary, I gave them to my daughters when they were young teenagers!
Yes, this word also has many foul meanings. But so do many other English words. The name “Randy” is a naughty word, and so is the name “Roger.”
The point is, English is that kind of language. In other countries, the “s” word is considered appropriate, not dirty at all. It’s just another word.
At the same time, the word “bloody” is considered horribly foul (at least, it used to be), while in the U.S., the word is not shocking at all.
I get the impression that the way the school friend used the “b” word was not to insult, but to imply that her friend is “cool” and “smart.” My generation would have used the word “sassy.”
It seems that the “b” word is evolving, and I’m thinking that in the future, this word will lose its “naughty” connotations and be acceptable in society, just as the word “sucks” is now fairly acceptable and is even being used in a nationwide ad campaign for a tool to help people quit smoking.
IMO, the teacher destroyed private property and should be made to replace this property. I would go so far as to take her to Small Claims Court. Her “discipline” went way over the line. Would she take a sledge hammer to a car that had a “naughty” bumper sticker? She needs to learn that she can’t destroy private property in the name of righteousness.
As for who should fight the battle, IMO, it depends on who paid for the yearbook. If the teenager paid for her own yearbook, then it should be her fight, but her parents should stand behind her and help her to understand her options (one of which is taking the teacher to Small Claims Court). If the parents paid for the yearbook (which I’m guessing is the case), then it’s the parent’s fight, but they should make sure that their daughter is OK with whatever course of action they choose. It is likely that once she is finished grieving over the damage to her yearbook, she would beg her parents to just drop the whole thing and not make a big deal out of it.
At any rate, the damaged yearbook will be a tangible symbol to the young girl for the rest of her life that teachers are not always wise and therefore, should not always be trusted or obeyed. It’s a shame that in attempting to rescue this girl from "evil,’ this teacher instead undermined the girl’s innocent trust in authority figures. Bad, bad, teacher. I would take her to court just to make sure that she never hurts another kid’s trust again.
