Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Avandia Critic "Bitch Slapped" Says Wonker, But Who's the Bitch?

Have you ever been "bitch slapped" or has anyone chortled that "X sure bitch slapped Y", where "Y" was YOU? No?

Then, my blogger friend, you haven't lived and experienced the full wrath of the many Internet bozos out there -- especially the ones lurking over at CafePharma (I kid you guys!).

Enough about me... (HELP! It's summer and I can't focus on important work!)

The latest bozo to use the phrase "bitch slap" is Peter Pitts, chief wanker over at Drug Wonks.

"Okay," says Peter "the good news is a 22-1 Avandia vote, a bitch slap to David Graham, a view of the Steve Nissen spin machine in action, and a reminder that the FDA really does act in best interests of the public health."

That's interesting, because the bad news -- as I point out in my post over at Pharma Marketing Blog -- is that the open discord between FDA's Office of New Drugs (OND), which approved Avandia for sale in the US, and the Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology, which is responsible for monitoring drug safety, demonstrates that the FDA is somewhat dysfunctional and may not be able to act in the best interests of public health (see "FDA's Chang and Eng: Benefit vs. Risk").

But I digress ... back to bitch slapping.

I looked this term up in the Urban Dictionary, which is a social networking site where visitors can vote on definitions.

There seems to be 2 different camps when it comes to the definition of "bitch slap." One camp contends it describes the way a "bitch" would slap someone, as in:

A Bitch Slap is a sharp, openhanded, stinging, yet generally benign slap – similar to being slapped by a bitch. When you “bitch slap” someone, you are slapping him or her like a woman would! Scratching, hair pulling, cursing, and crying generally follow a well-placed bitch slap.

Usage: LaFawnda bitch slapped Rico for talkin bout her bunions.
Another camp contends that it says more about the slappee than the slapper; namely, the slappee deserves no respect:
To open handedley slap someone. Denote disrespect for the person being bitch slapped as they are not worthy of a man sized punch. Suggests the slap was met with little resistance and much whining

Usage: Kieth owed me that $20 for weeks and I had to bitch slap the M.F. to get it back.
I am sure Pitts was implying that Graham was treated like a bitch rather than his critics were acting like bitches.

In either case, is this the sort of derogatory language that a co-founder of Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and Senior Vice President for Health Affairs at Manning, Selvage & Lee should use?

Did I just "bitch slap" (a la variation #2) Pitts?

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