If the gays can throw around "fag" with endearment, then so too can young girls unleash "slut" as a means of bonding. Even Seventeen editrix Atoosa Rubenstein, archbishop of tween culture code, giggles when 12-year-olds belt "you little slut" at each other. But for her part, the Times' Stephanie Rosenbloom isn't ready to let "slut," "bitch," or "cootch" enter her copy unless embedded in a soundbite. So how to call Paris Hilton a gangly ass ho without actually saying it? Like so:

Women wear T-shirts with provocative slogans. Stripping and pole dancing is an au courant way to exercise. Paris Hilton is called an “American cultural icon” on Sephora .com, where she sells $49 perfume.

See? Thursday Styles can be informative. Without Stephanie's instruction, we never would've been able to call Jessica Simpson a semen stain with such integrity: "Female celebrities are lauded for their sexual empowerment. By sleeping with more than three men at a time, starlets beam independence. Jessica Simpson is one of the most in-demand Hollywood "It" girls even though she only guy she keeps around more than one night is her gay hairstylist."

The Taming of the Slur [Stephanie Rosenbloom, NYT]