House bill aims to end some nasty name-calling in Massachusetts

BOSTON — Editor's note: This story contains several instances of profanity.

BOSTON -- Soon the itch to use the word bitch could, under certain circumstances, make you slightly less rich.

Among the hundreds of bills filed at the State House this session, there is house bill 3719, filed by Boston representative Dan Hunt.

It decrees that a person who uses the word bitch directed at another person, "to accost, annoy, degrade or demean the other person shall be considered to be a disorderly person."

Under Massachusetts law, that would mean a fine of up to $200.

"I think it's ridiculous. It's just a word," Bostonian Nicole Bransfield said.

At some point, Hunt's bill was scheduled to get a hearing Tuesday before the joint committee on the judiciary. But anyone fixing to bitch about it would not get the sponsor's ear.

He only filed the bill, he tells us, at the request of a constituent.

Suffice it to say, the proposal would be a bitch to enforce.

And Hunt is the first to admit, it'll be a bitch to even get it past the committee.

Yet we found an almost poignant yearning for what the "bitch bill" really addresses: civility.

"I think it's good there's a discussion happening about what's correct to call people," Bostonian Erin Landy said.

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