Witch with a Capital "B"

Mr. Lundie: They were indeed horrible destructive women. I dinna suppose you have such women in your country?
Tommy Albright: Witches?
Jeff Douglas: Oh, we have 'em. We pronounce it differently.

— Brigadoon

A Sub-Trope of Parenthetical Swearing, this is a line of dialogue which may be used for Getting Crap Past the Radar, or that at least always leads to many raised eyebrows and jokes amongst the online fandom. Basically, Bob calls Alice a "witch." The context and inflection, however, strongly imply that, in a world free of Media Watchdogs and censors, he would have used a different epithet — one that rhymes with "witch" but starts with a B. Extra fun if it's justified with the subject being a literal witch or, conversely, the speaker being a female dog (who wouldn't use a word that means "female dog" as an insult). More adult-oriented works tend to do the opposite: wherever the word for a magic-using crone would suffice ("wicked witch", "witchcraft"), they'll go for the swear.

And this is not just in English...Spanish-speakers may like to use "bruja" as a polite form of "puta."^note  It varies by country. For some Latin countries, calling a woman a "bruja" means a mean lady or even insult her appearance. Yes, this includes "hijo de bruja." Be warned, however, calling a girl a "bruja" could imply that she is more "a woman of ill-repute" whereas calling a girl a "witch" would simply suggest she is "not a very nice lady."

Most prevalent in Western Animation. See also This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!, which can be used to set up this trope. It's often used when bowdlerizing a work for broadcast, in places where people in the version seen in videos, movie theaters, or CDs do say "bitch."

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Examples

Anime & Manga

• The English version of the manga Assassination Classroom goes this route. In Japanese the students refer to teacher-slash-Honey Trap Irina Jelavic as Bitch-Sensei, playing off how -Vic is pronounced "vitch" and the Japanese language lacking a V sound, typically substituting them with B's. In the English translation, her name is spelled "Jelavitch" and the pun is further preserved by the students calling her "Ms. Vitch."
  • Played literally in the spinoff Koro-Sensei Quest!, where her class is a Witch as a nod to her nickname.
• In the fourth episode of Bakugan New Vestroia's English dub, Elfin (Marucho's new guardian) says to Mylene (who has just captured some innocent Bakugan) "Give me back those Bakugan you witch!"
• In the Digimon Adventure dub, during the Angewomon / LadyDevimon slap fight:
  Izzy: I know I shouldn't watch this, but I can't take my eyes off them!
  Kari: *angrily pumping her fists* You get her, Angewomon! That's right! Knock that witch's block off! GO!
  • When they meet again for another round in the following season, Angewomon tells LadyDevimon "Try to stop me, you witch!"
• In the dubbed version of Dragon Ball Z's The History Of Trunks, the title character, after having Android 18 beat him up and then aim a death attack at him, utters "Go ahead. Do it! You... WITCH!"
• Inuyasha uses this in the anime (dub). A lot. Plus, he says it in a particularly demeaning manner. You can't really miss it. Then again, he is half dog Yōkai, so it could actually be the stronger insult from him.
  (To Kagura, numerous times): You witch!
  (To Tsubaki): You witch!
• In Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, young Artesia meets her father’s legal wife Roselucia (as opposed to her mother Astraia, who was The Mistress to her father, though she acted as his wife to the public) and calls her a witch. Given her scary appearance and Wicked Stepmother vibes, it works in translation.
• From American volume 37 of One Piece:
  Franky: Spanda!!! You son of a sea witch!!
• Sailor Moon:
  • In the original English versions (both anime and manga) of Sailor Moon, Lita often used "witch" as an insult. Considering it was a Magical Girl show, it could sometimes be taken literally, though.
  • Ditto in one episode where Serena refers to Zoycite as "that witch." She also calls Queen Beryl "you witch" to her face in their final battle.
  • In her debut episode, Amy also called the Youma who disguised herself as the cram/computer school teacher a "slimy old witch."
  • Trista famously calls a Eudial a "wicked witch" in their showdown.^note  Doubles as a Mythology Gag to the original anime where Tomoe's minions were called the Witches 5 or "witches."
  • Even Viz couldn't resist having Mako call En a witch in their dub of "The Moonlight Knight, Mako Falls In Love."
  • Mixx Entertainment often translated "Youma" as "Witch" in their English translation of the manga and chapter books. Given that they're nearly all female, it's not that much of a stretch.
• A very odd and meta version of this happens in Vandread in the second season: When the Mejale pirates are captured by their peers on the last leg of the season, the female judge who were judging them calls them "witches" due of their relationship with the males from Tarak, in this case Hibiki and the Tarakians. The meta part comes with the fact in Japanese the word "witch" is translated as "majou", but in-universe is stated the language of the women of Mejale is English. Even more when the judge call the pirates as such, Jura gets seriously offended being called a witch. Even more meta if you take into account Jura's Japanese VA speaks and understand English in Real Life.
• In the English dub of Zoids: Chaotic Century, episode 28 has Van call Irvine a "pain in the chassis".
• Proving this trope doesn't always applies to English dubs, in Yu-Gi-Oh! (first anime series), Sadist Teacher Ms. Chono is nicknamed the "Wicked Witch of Expulsion."

Comic Books

• In issue three of Aztek: The Ultimate Man, Fixit at one point refers to Death-Doll as a "witch" while complaining under his breath that he hates her.
• Batman:
  • Batman: Hush has a criminal refer to the Huntress as a "witch" and Poison Ivy do the same to Catwoman.
  • The Batman Returns Comic-Book Adaptation did this to the line "Life's a bitch. So am I.", rather diluting the impact of the phrase.
  • At a later part of the Knightfall arc, Batman calls Poison Ivy a witch right as he knocks her out, in response to her daring him to surrender to her.
  • Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham #2 has Batman calling Catwoman this. Yes, despite all the blood and upskirt shots present in the rest of the comic, calling a woman a bitch is apparently drawing the line.
  • Batman: Gotham Adventures:
    • The 4th issue has Amy Mercedes call Catwoman a "witch" when she catches her breaking into her bedroom.
    • In issue 29, Robin remarks to the Penguin that he'd give up his own mother. The Penguin replies "I wasn't going to jail for that witch".
• Dial H for Hero: The story in issue 34 of New Adventures of Superboy has Camp Pocahontas owner Mel Burnley order Sherri Lancer to leave the camp because of parents pulling their children away after the havoc caused by Naiad. Sherri retaliates by declaring that she's cancelling the contract she agreed on with Burnley and he therefore won't get a cent out of the movie she's trying to shoot. After Sherri leaves Burnley's office and slams the door, Burnley grumbles "That witch!"
• Doom Patrol:
  • The Paul Kupperberg run made a habit out of characters calling females who pissed them off "witch".
  • The second Annual (part of the Rachel Pollack run and a tie-in to The Children's Crusade (Vertigo)) has Junkin Buckley call Dorothy Spinner a "goddamn ugly grown-up witch" after she punches him in retribution for groping her breasts.
• We can probably safely guess that Empowered means it when she calls her teammate Sistah Spooky "a literal witch. Boo, hiss."
• Green Lantern:
  • Volume 3, issue 166 has a turtle-like alien named Tipanius Terpis refer to Commander Ashari, a Tamaranean member of the Cosmic Emergency Management Agency, as a "witch" when mentioning to Kyle Rayner how unbearable she is to Terpis and the rest of his crew.
  • During the "Wanted: Hal Jordan" arc of Geoff Johns' run, one of the terrorists chasing after Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman refers to her as an "American witch".
• Icon: Issue 33 has the villain Flambe do this to Rocket.
  Flambe: You can't keep me off of you forever, witch.
• The fourth and final Annual of JLA (1997) had the back-up story, which served as the origin of the main story's heroine the Janissary, feature the antagonist General Anka Kazim referring to the Janissary as an "insipid witch".
• Legion of Super-Heroes: The story for issue 386 of Action Comics has Ultra Boy disdainfully refer to Uli Algor as a "witch" after seeing that she had harmed Phantom Girl.
• Ubiquitous in Marvel Comics of the 1970s through the early 1990s.
• New Gods: The 19th issue of Mister Miracle has Barda exclaim "Back off, witch!" while punching Granny Goodness.
• One issue of the print comic Nodwick had a scene where the Stupid Good cleric Piffany calls an evil cleric a "word-that-rhymes-with-ditch-but-starts-with-B" before engaging her in battle. While the word "witch" was not itself used, this still seems to be the same principle, made Badbutt. This is pretty par for the course with Piffany. She's literally so pure that she has trouble finding ways to concisely express her more extreme feelings without tarnishing her incorruptible goodness.
• Richard Dragon: Richard calls Lady Shiva "that witch" when talking to Connor after she's kidnapped the pair of them.
• Shade, the Changing Man: Issue 39 of Peter Milligan's run had Miles Laimling call Lenny a "witch" after she started burning pages of his unpublished novel.
• Spider-Girl occasionally had Spider-Girl and Raptor call each other "witch". The tendency for the word to be used in place of a certain word that rhymes is lampshaded in the series' second issue.
  Thug: I don't care who you are, ya meddlesome witch!
  Spider-Girl: Oh, man! You are so lucky you used the W-word instead of the B-word! (kicks thug) Because the B-word makes me real angry— —and this is me only mildly cheesed off!
• Superboy (1994): In issue 17, Neon refers to his ex Roxy as an "ungrateful witch".
• The Superman Adventures: Issue 30 has Superman stumble into a parallel dimension where his adoptive parents have died and his biological parents are still alive. Lara's counterpart is called a "conniving witch" by Jor-El's counterpart.
• Teen Titans:
  • The penultimate issue of the original series had Lilith Clay call Wonder Girl a "witch" while being forced to fight her because of the influence of Mr. Esper.
  • In issue 13 of New Teen Titans volume one, Robotman refers to Madame Rouge as "that witch" while expressing his desire to get even with her for killing the rest of the Doom Patrol.
• Ultimate Marvel
  • In Ultimate X4 (an X-Men/Fantastic Four crossover), the two teams have just identified the villainess and the Thing says "Let's go put that rhymes-with-witch through some changes."
  • Inverted later on, when Iceman calls the Scarlet Witch the 'scarlet B word'.
• Wonder Woman (1987):
  • Issues 88 and 89 made excessive use of using the word "witch" in place of "bitch".
  • In issue 97, the Joker calls Diana a "witch" when he gets irritated by her cracking jokes during their battle.
  • In issue 128, a thug spitefully says "Bite me, witch" to Donna Troy.
  • Artemis calls Diana a "traitorous witch" in the 98th issue.
• Wonder Woman '77: "Disco Inferno" has one of the Silver Swan's minions call Wonder Woman a "pompous witch".
• In one issue of Young Justice, Arrowette refers to the Alpha Bitch and her Girl Posse as "rhymes with witches".

Fan Works

• Subverted in Advice and Trust. Asuka often calls Ritsuko a witch whenever the latter does something to anger her (usually involved Rei), but this is actually short for witch doctor. She has on several occasions called her a bitch during the same conversations anyways.
• In The Best Revenge Hermione is sorted into Ravenclaw and is bullied by the other Ravenclaw girls for not fitting in.
  Susan: Did they take your shoes this time? They call themselves witches, but I think they don't know how to spell!
• In Between My Brother and Me: Mors Omnibus, Ayu Ayukawa lays this out on Himika Akba.
  Ayu: Yeah it’s funny that she has her hair shaped like a heart yet she doesn’t show any love for anyone except herself. The only thing she loves is getting her curls perfect so that everyone is oblivious to the fact that she’s a black-hearted witch!
• In Cold Blood Neville comments on Dolores Umbridge's resemblance to a toad.
  Tonks: As true as this is - and you really should be ashamed, Neville - she is a nasty piece of work. Ran into her on one or two occasions, she is a true witch, if you replace the first letter by a 'B'.
• This is literal in the Discworld. The first meeting of Vitriolic Best Buds, between student Assassin Famke Smith-Rhodes-Stibbons and student Witch Alexandra Mumorovka has Famke thinking out loud that "she's a Witch with a capital B". Unstoppable force meets un-moveable object in the works of A.A. Pessimal.
• In Disney High School, part of the Snarfblats' song about Vanessa.
  'My gem was enchanted by a witch,
  She turned out to be kind of a (ah)—
• This is Applejack's favored insult for Luna in Frigid Winds and Burning Hearts. Captain Braveheart also uses this several times, though he's not afraid to use the B-version as well.
• In Grȃce au Malfoys McGonagall makes excuses for James Potter's behavior toward Snape.
  "Wha' cae you expect from the lad, Severus? Growin' up alone in that bloody huge manor with nae but house elves and his witch" - it was obvious from her tone that she had substituted a 'b' for the 'w' in the word - "of a mother - and I find it hard to even call Dorea Black-Potter a 'mother'!"
• In Green's My Favorite Color, the Joker derides Poison Ivy as a "heartless witch".
• The Last Straw:
  Hadrian: I've said it before Nev. That grandmother of yours was 'a witch with a B', I know she never fully recovered from losing your father like she did but she and your Uncle Algie were nearly as abusive in their own way as the Dursleys were.
• In "Attack of the Cons" from Halloween Unspectacular: Mess Effect, a group of peasants ends up dragging Pauline away after they supposedly hear E350 call her a witch. The scene cuts away before he can clarify otherwise.
• In Infinity Train: Seeker of Crocus, Amelia makes her feelings for Gremory known by shouting "YOU WITCH!"
• Amy delivers this line to Kammy Koopa right after Team ZAP has defeated Kammy in chapter 63 of Paper Mario X:
  Amy: YOU'D BETTER BELIEVE IT YOU WITCH WITH A B!
• In The Pokémon Squad episode "Dungeons and Dragon-types", Ash utters this line at the end:
  Ash: And now we're back home, where instead of being a witch, June is-
  June (angrily): I heard that, Ketchum!
  Ash: Uh oh.
• Rose Lily Potter -- Metamorphmagus-Who-Lived:
  Tonks: In fact, Hermione, come find me before you check out the book. Madame Pince can be a real... witch... when it comes to her books.
• Sometimes Bad is Good:
  Mrs. Weasley: Ginny! Language, young lady! I didn't raise you to swear like some rude witch with a 'b'!
• Team Rocket Roots has Jessie referring to her rival Cassidy as a "cocky little witch."
• Threads of Time:
  Sirius: I can't pick you up, Little Prongs. That evil b-witch there has me tied up.
• The Vanishing Cabinet of Time:
  Hermione: Alright, I might be a little angry. That total b... witch, Dolores Umbridge, could have screwed everything up for Sirius today!
• In Warmth, Yukari doesn't like Nyamo's mother. When she sees her at Nyamo's house, she addresses her with "What are ya' doin' here, witch?".

Films — Animation

• 101 Dalmatians: Perdita (who, ironically, is a literal bitch) calls Cruella, "A devil, a-a witch."
• In Coraline, when the title character finds Other Wybie dead and what's left of him hanging on a pole, she utters this line to Other Mother/The Beldam which does sound like a kid friendly version of the term.
  Coraline Jones: EVIL WITCH! I'M NOT SCARED!

Also a Genius Bonus, "beldam" is an archaic word for "witch."

• A (fittingly) bizarre variant occurs in Foodfight!, when Dex Dogtective confronts Lady X and calls her a "cold-farted itch".
• In The Little Mermaid (1989), one of the lines to Ursula's Villain Song, "Poor Unfortunate Souls", is "They weren't kidding when they called me, well, a witch." Indeed they weren't.
• In Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, when a pre-Supergirl Kara Zor-El is kidnapped by Darkseid and Granny Goodness, she proceeds to call the latter a "witch".
• Wreck-It Ralph: The word "Glitch" is used instead of "Witch", but it's the same principle. Especially when King Candy/Turbo yells "So long, glitch!"

Films — Live-Action

• Bell, Book and Candle: Shep's jilted fiancée Merle calls Gillian (an actual witch) the b-word
  Merle: A witch?
  Shep: Yes!
  Merle: Shep, you've just never learned how to spell.
• During the climax of The Covenant, Chase makes a pun on the other meaning of "bitch" when he taunts Caleb with this cheesy one-liner:
  Chase: How about I make you... my wee-atch?
• Inverted in The Craft where Chris refers to Nancy and her friends as "the Bitches of Eastwick", though they actually are witches.
• From Ella Enchanted: The narrator who always speaks in rhymes says "And so she left them, scratching their newly found itches/Glad to be rid of them.... witches."
• The Forbidden Kingdom inverts it with this exchange involving an actual witch:
  Sparrow: She will kill you, witch!
  Ni Chang: Not if I kill you first, orphan bitch!
• In The Goonies, Andi calls Mama Fratelli "you gross old witch". Which is probably more an indicator of Andi's personality than it is censorship, since there's plenty of swearing elsewhere in the movie. Might also be foreshadowing, as she's a real witch in the music video.
• Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween had a track which is titled as "Witch, Please" in the soundtrack.
• In Disney's Hocus Pocus, Winnie does this in a Shout-Out to Elton John during "I Put a Spell on You":
  Winnie: Now the witch is back! And there's hell to pay.
• In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aslan enters into a bit of this in the Walden Media film adaptation. Granted, he's talking to the White Witch, but the way he says the line implies this meaning. It's worth noting that Jadis insisted on being referred to as a queen, so Aslan was probably deliberately pushing her Berserk Button as well.
  Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, witch. I was there when it was written.
• Ivan Ooze, the Big Bad of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, refers to Dulcea as "that miserable, manipulating, loathsome she-devil of a witch!"
• Paid: Joe is stressing about a crime job.
  Joe: I'm as nervous as a witch today.
  Aggie: Did you say witch?
• In the TV friendly version of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Ramona says she's "dabbled in being a witch" when in the theatrical version she says "bitch". May be justified, in that the film seems to take place in some sort of video game world. A witch is just another job one could do.
• In State of the Union Grant's wife Mary expresses an unflattering opinion of Grant's mistress Kay.
  "I think Kay would be more comfortable in a kennel."
• In the Hallmark Channel movie Trading Christmas, Faith is discussing a character in a book that Charles is writing:
  Faith: It's Samantha, the girlfriend.
  Charles: What about Samantha the girlfriend?
  Faith: She is a total... witch. Please feel free to re-spell that if you want.
• This line from The Wizard of Oz demonstrates the same idea:
  Auntie Em: (to Miss Gulch) For twenty-three years, I've been dying to tell you what I thought of you! And now... well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it!

And this is after Dorothy called Miss Gulch a "wicked old witch" in regards to her desire to take Toto away to be destroyed.

• In The Women, Joan Crawford as Crystal Allen: "There is a name for you, ladies, but it isn't used in high society... outside of a kennel."

Literature

• In Chapterhouse: Dune
  "Oh, you bitch!"
  "I prefer witch."
• In the first Darkest Powers book, one of the characters almost calls the protagonist a "bitch", however, since she's talking to her mom she switches to "witch" part way through.
• Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast refers to The Little Mermaid (1989)'s Ursula as "the sea witch (spelt with a 'b')."
• The tagline to the witch-themed novel Hocus Pocus & The All-New Sequel is "Witch, please".
• Katniss describes Peeta's mother as a witch. Considering we've never seen anything supernatural in The Hunger Games, she probably meant something else.
• In the Mage: The Ascension novel Penny Dreadful, this seems to be Penny's favorite way of turning the word "witch" from a simple description into an insult.
• There's one in Agatha Christie's The Man in the Brown Suit.
• In Matilda, Mr Wormwood says this when his wife tells him that he should have read the label on superglue before using it.
  Mr Wormwood: What in heaven's name are you talking about, you stupid witch? Do you think I'm so stupid I'd glue my hat to my head on purpose?
• Stephen King also uses a variant in The Regulators, when one character says of another "there's a word for women like Marielle; it rhymes with the one for how you kick a football".
• There is a book called Son of a Witch. And considering who his mom is...
• In Under the Dome the Big Bad Jim Rennie doesn't swear, so when he's irritated with a woman he'll call her, "that rhymes-with-witch!"
• At one point in Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, Roger describes Jessica as a "shrewish, raving witch".

Live-Action TV

• On an episode of All My Children, a couple comes into the police station to report that they've been mugged. The husband describes the attacker as "calling my wife a word that rhymes with 'witch'".
• In Alphas, Gary's autism lends people to trying to censor their swearing around him, which leads to this line:
  Gary: That witch took my phone!
  Dr. Rosen: What witch?
  Gary: The witch. That's the word my mom uses when she's angry. She uses another word, too.

Half-amusingly, Bill absently calls the woman a bitch immediately after Gary's done with his tirade.

• A meta example: the premiere episode of American Horror Story: Coven is called "Bitchcraft". And oh, do the main characters live up to it.
• Angel. In "Five by Five", their Occult Detective agency is short of money, so Cordelia tricks them into taking on a well-paying divorce case, claiming that her husband says his wife is a real witch. Clearly a different word was used.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Inverted in the season 1 episode "The Witch": Amy mentions that before he left, her father would get in fights with her mother, calling her a witch. Amy thought that this was Parenthetical Swearing, but realized later on that it was exactly what he meant.
  • In Australia, an ad for a season one episode used the phrase "Cordelia, the teenage bitch" (referencing Sabrina the Teenage Witch)
• While Charmed didn't use this trope as often as you might expect, Shannen Doherty's Beverly Hills, 90210 castmate Luke Perry once threw some vicious shade her way, reflecting on the Hostility on the Set that followed her on the set of both shows:
  Luke Perry: All I'm going to say is that it's appropriate that she's playing a witch in her current show.
• Reversed/parodied on Community - Shirley, as head of the sailing class crew, angrily criticizes Pierce's ineptitude. He replies "Well, it's clear what the 'C' in 'Captain' stands for!...[everyone gasps]...'Crabapple!'"
• Dexter's Vince Masuka pulls this one regarding lieutenant Pascal's approaching him over a "woman's smell" on a shirt, a forensic impossibility that she thinks would prove her fiancé was cheating on her.
  Oh no, it's that crazy witch.
• The Doom Patrol (2019) episode "Fame Patrol" has Rita Farr at one point refer to Isabel Feathers as a "witch" in what is clearly a derisive context.
• In the Grimm episode "Season of the Hexenbiest", Nick tells Adalind that she doesn't have to be a Hexenbiest to be a witch.
• Home Improvement: Tim and Jill are discussing Wilson's new friend in front of Brad, and Jill refers to her as a witch. Brad says "Mom, I'm old enough, you can use the B-word." In this case, Jill really did mean "witch" (and not as an insult); the woman was a practicing Wiccan.
• House of Anubis:
  • Fabian does this twice. The first time is when he tells Patricia he stopped being her friend "when she became such a witch", and the second is when he tells Joy she's a "bully, and a witch," during a heated argument.
  • Patricia seems to actually be on the receiving end of this a lot, to the point where Jerome tells her he thinks she's a literal witch when attempting to reject her while she's asking him out.
• Played with in How I Met Your Mother. "Witch" (at least the way Future Ted tells it) is indeed used as a swear — just not as "bitch", which is used normally. It's used in place of a much harsher word instead.
• Little House on the Prairie has Laura suspecting that her husband has been seeing another woman. In confronting the supposed other woman, Laura says "you witch" right before pouncing on her and engaging in a physical fight. To Laura's embarrassment it turns out that the woman is innocent. What Laura mistook for a love note was only lyrics to a song the woman had written.
• In the MADtv (1995) parody "Be-Bitched", Samantha twitches her nose and turns into a Sassy Black Woman who tells everybody around her where to shove it.
• The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers episode "The Spit Flower" has Jason comment that Rita Repulsa is "a real witch" after she sends Putties to destroy Kimberly's float model.
• Modern Family: Claire is planning a haunted house for Halloween, and Gloria is going as a bruja (Spanish for witch). Jay warns her to not be late or Claire will turn into a "rhymes with bruja".
• Mystery Science Theater 3000:
  • Brought up when watching The Touch of Satan. One of the young protagonists makes small talk at a store by mentioning her reputation in town thusly.
    Melissa: They say in this town that I'm a witch.
    Crow T. Robot: It only RHYMES with witch!
  • In the Bloodlust episode, Gypsy subverts the trope, exclaiming, "No wonder he's so messed up, I'm tempted to call her something that rhymes with bitch!" Servo and Crow are especially pleased at her gaffe — in the theater, they beg Mike to let them say it, too.
    Crow and Servo: (singsong) Gypsy's in trouble! Gypsy's in trouble!
• Pops up in the Sabrina the Teenage Witch Friday the 13th episode. When Sabrina is confessing that she's a witch^note She's allowed to do so on Friday the 13th, Valerie assumes she's invoking this trope. She says "I know you can be a little cranky sometimes but..."
• In one famous exchange on Sanford and Son, Aunt Esther talks with Donna about her upcoming marriage with Fred with two of her sisters. Eventually, Donna gets offended and calls the trio a bunch of witches. Esther's response:
  Esther: "Who you calling a witch, WITCH!"
  • And when Fred comes to Donna's defense: "And she was right! You three ugly witches! And you married your husbands and turned them into frogs."
• In Scrubs when Carlma is forced to tell a patient he can't go to a family gathering, he immediately calls her a "mean old witch". He's surrounded by children at the time so who knows what he really meant?
• In an episode of Ugly Betty, Betty and Hilda have a big blowout on Thanksgiving over a lawer. Later Justin tries to sneak some stuffing while Hilda's back is turned.
  Hilda: [back still turned] Put it back!
  Justin: [to Santos] How does she do that?
  Santos: She's a bit of a witch.
  Betty: Give or take a letter...
  • Also this trope was mentioned by name (in reference to Wilhelmina) during the series recap at the beginning of season three.
• USA High the kids overhear an argument between two teachers and Ashley is horrified that the husband calls his wife a witch. The argument was them rehearsing for the wife's play so either they were censoring themselves since they were in a school or the play's author wasn't a fan of cursing.
• Done in spirit, if not in letter, on The Vicar of Dibley. Hugo and Geraldine discuss Hugo's father's reaction to the news that he is dating Alice:
  Hugo: Well, I can't actually tell you what he said, because... because you're the vicar. But, well, let's say a certain word is represented by another word that sounds like a little like that word, like, um, like "duck," for instance. (Beat) He asked me what the duck I was playing at, said he didn't give a flying duck if I ducking loved Alice ducking Tinker, and if I ducking kissed her again, he'd make sure I was well and truly ducked.
  Geraldine: Well, duck me!
• In Will & Grace, during one of Karen and Jack's fights, Jack stage-whispers "Rhymes with witch."
• Young Sheldon: In "Mitch's Son and the Unconditional Approval of a Government Agency", Missy exclaims "Son of a Mitch!" in front of Mary, and gets punished.

Music

• Another inversion, namely the phrase "season of the bitch," appears in the title track on David Bowie's album Diamond Dogs.
• The Capitol Steps song "Chung Girl" is based on an incident reported by Connie Chung of Newt Gingrich's mother whispering to her, in reference to Hillary Clinton: "She's a bitch." The song ends with Mrs. Gingrich telling Connie another thing:
  People say you are a certain word
  It's that one you've overheard
  It rhymes with Maury Po-VICH!
• OutKast sing this in the Bowdlerised version of "Roses":
  Caroline... see, she's the reason for the word "witch".

Heck, even the music video does more, as there is one kid who writes on the blackboard "Learn to divide, witch" and even shows a LITERAL actual witch portraying the Wicked Witch of the West!

• In Barry Louis Polisar's "I Have A Teacher, She's So Mean", the narrator calls his teacher a witch after she calls him stupid.
• Cole Porter's song "Mr. and Mrs. Fitch" was published in the transparently Bowdlerised version shown below; the original version, in the musical Gay Divorce had a different word rhyming with "Fitch," which the drummer had to play over:
  Now men who once knew Missus Fitch
  Refer to her as a witch,
  While the girls who once loved Mister Fitch
  Say he always was a son of the rich.
• An example of the reverse version: Type O Negative's "Black No. 1" contains the line "Boo Bitch Craft".
• Played with in MYDY's "Red Flag Parade":
  Not saying she's a witch,
  but baby, she's a [bleep]

Professional Wrestling

• In GLOW Ashley Cartier invokes this in her rap verse.
  "I may be prissy and very rich/But get me mad and you'll see a witch"
• Early on in the McMahon-Helmsley Era, Jim Ross gets called out by Stephanie McMahon for insulting her.
  "She's acting like something that sounds like witch and starts with a B."
• Kelly Kelly called Vickie Guerrero a "greedy, power hungry witch". If only she'd been allowed to cut that promo a few months later when CM Punk blurred the lines of what could be said on PG television.
• Jeff Jarrett's wife, Karen, was known as "La Bruja" while he was AAA Mega Champio...excuse us, Heavyweight Champion and King Of Mexico!
• Complete with Visual Pun, Zack Ryder showed up dressed as a witch for Halloween around Eve Torres (read: the Manipulative Bitch who kicked him in the balls on live TV). This exchange between Eve and Teddy Long followed:
  Eve: So you really think I'm a witch?
  Teddy: You're just one letter off.

Radio

• NPR's Weekend All Things Considered of 08/30/15 had a remark by a commentator that President Barack Obama was ending his term by doing "things on his bucket list, or something he says rhymes with his bucket list".

Role Playing Games

• In Dino Attack RPG, the way that King Joseph Race screams "You witch!" at Willa heavily suggests this. Later, Johnny "bricking" Gat lets the Fright Knights know that This Is for Emphasis, Witch!

Theater

• Brigadoon, as mentioned. In some productions, Jeff says "We just spell the word differently."
• In Louisiana Purchase, the "don't sue us" Opening Chorus includes the lines:
  If you're sons of millionaires,
  Don't start trembling in your breeches
  When a character declares
  That you're dirty sons-of-riches.
• Les Misérables: "Look Down".
  Prostitute: Listen you old bat/Crazy bloody witch/Least I give me customers some pleasure in return.
• Scenes in the Reduced Shakespeare Company's Shakespeare's Long-Lost First Play (abridged) featuring the witches include the lines "Where my witches at?" "Witch, please", and "You got 99 problems, but a witch ain't one."
• Anna Russell, in her synopsis of The Ring of the Nibelung, carefully detailed in her English accent that Hagen's "mother was a Gibich." Her other classic Wagner parody, Schreechenrauf, actually includes the line "Gudrune, die Götterdämmerung Gibich". (Wagner, of course, properly accented "Gibich" on the first syllable.)

Video Games

• In AI: The Somnium Files, Mayumi refers to Iris as a "witch" at any opportunity she can, claiming that Iris has her son Ota under her spell.
• In Bayonetta:
  • The achievement awarded for performing your first Torture Attack is "I'm A Bit... I Mean Witch."
  • Inverted later in the game when Luka, unsure whether to trust Bayonetta and stressed out by his increasingly bizarre situation, flubs his line and comments on how hard it is "working with bitches". He hastily clarifies he meant to say "witch".
• In Bug Fables, when Kabbu finally got fed up with Mothiva's antics (namely, when she tries to upstage Team Snakemouth in the Colosseum, which would've jeopardized the peace negotiation with the Termite Kingdom and subsequently doomed all of Bugaria), he snaps at her, and, after pointing out how poorly-thought her plan is and bringing up how his team saved her life before, calls her a witch in rage.
• The cutscene that plays when Dawn of War II is opened contains a Space Marine growling "This planet is ours, witch!" after mortally wounding an Eldar Farseer (often referred to as "witches/wyches"). Of course, not only is the Farseer actually a witch. In 40k, being a "witch" is incomprehensibly much worse than being a bitch. It even goes above "HERETIC!".
• Dragon Age: Origins averts this, because the witches are scary enough that accusing someone of being a witch is worse than calling them a bitch. Also its M rated so they can and do say "bitch" in it.
• In Final Fantasy VI when Locke is initially asked to go and rescue Terra, his response is "This better not have anything to do with that Magitek-riding, Imperial witch!!!" One could say that since Terra was a magic-user, he could actually mean a witch in the literal sense except for the fact that he expresses so much shock not long afterwards when Terra, Locke, and Edgar are in a battle and Edgar has to literally it spell out to Locke that Terra had just used magic.
• At the climax of A Realm Reborn in Final Fantasy XIV, the Scions are accused of murdering the Sultana. When Minfilia, the Scion's leader, tries to defend herself against the accusations, Teledji Adeledji promptly tells her to shut her mouth while calling her a witch.
• In Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, Demyx says "Man, why's Larxene gotta be such a witch?"'
• Just Dance 2022: ''Boss Bitch'' by Doja Cat had to be covered and it's lyrics reworked for obvious age and audience reasons, so it became "Boss Witch" by DEVMO (credited as Skarlett Klaw in-game, and the song is titled "Boss Witch (Ubisoft clean cover)), which automatically gave the routine a Halloween theme, so the coach is naturally a witch.
• In the King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne Fan Remake, Hagatha confronts Graham and Valanice and starts her Evil Gloating. Graham tries to argue with her, but can't quite spit out the insult.
  Graham: Why you... you...
  Hagatha: Witch?
  Valanice: (mordantly) I'm sure it would have rhymed...
• When the survivors first encounter a Witch in Left 4 Dead 2, Coach outright calls her a bitch. Rochelle chides him for it and suggests that they call the zombie a Witch instead.
• Metal Gear Solid, of all games. Johnny Sasaki refers to Meryl as a 'witch' in the second prison scene.
• Bane's Gratuitous Spanish "Bruja"^note  "witch", duh! for Dr. Young in Batman: Arkham Asylum certainly evokes this.
• Mabinogi: One of Lezzaro's random speech bubbles contains this,
  Lezzaro: Eluned... that witch. She must be spreading weird rumors again.
• Murder in the Alps:
  • In the climax of Deadly Snowstorm, Giovanni Rossi calls Claudia Perret a witch when Anna Myers reveals that Claudia incriminated him for Christian Petersen's murder and spent a night in Giovanni's room just to give herself an alibi.
  • In The Heir, Paola Tornetta, distraught over her lover Aldo Molinelli's murder, calls his wife Silvia a witch, believing that she killed him in jealous rage.
• Punned in Neverwinter Nights 2 when Qara (a sorceress and therefore a literal witch) calls Neeshka "tail-for-brains" in a cutscene.
  Neeshka: Okay, explain that one to me.
  Khelgar Ironfist: Well, she said your brains are next to your tail... which would imply that your brains are in your rear end. And that means you breathe through your—
  Neeshka: Okay, okay, I get it, all right? Little witch.
• Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney has a lot of fun with this, especially in the final Witch Trial when Layton gives an Armour-Piercing Question to the Big Bad who has only one reply:
  Storyteller: Why you...you son of a witch!
• Heather in Silent Hill 3 plays the trope both ways. She calls Claudia a witch at first, then straight up calls her a bitch in their final encounter.
• Roger Wilco in Space Quest IV stammers such a line when he is held captive by the The Latex Babes of Estros.
• The Way (RPG Maker): In the game's setting, "witch" is often used as a disparaging term towards disagreeable women, usually in contexts where one would expect the word to start with a "B" instead.
  Kloe: You're as callous as they come, Rhue. I've got things to do.
  Rhue: Witch...
• According to Xenoblade Chronicles X's subtitles, Elma calls Goetia a "Samaarian witch" in Chapter 6. Most players are in agreement that this is definitely not what Caitlin Glass actually said.

Visual Novels

• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice:
  • Geiru Toneido says "Imma cut you witch!" to Athena with a balloon sword, making the real meaning fairly obvious.
  • The final culprit, Queen Ga'ran, gets repeatedly called a witch by Apollo, with the tone involved making it pretty clear he means it with a B. The ironic thing there is, that culprit's downfall comes from the fact she does not have any sort of spiritual powers, after much promising that she did.
• In High School Story one of the choices of Jordan's reaction to Zoe dumping Brian triggers this dialogue:
  Jordan: Serves them right. Karma's a... well, you know.
  Caleb: A witch?
  Jordan: Close enough.

Webcomics

• 8-Bit Theater features this little exchange between Red Mage and Black Mage:
  RM: Huh. That Matoya is one crazy witch.
  BM: That's almost how I'd put it...
• This page of The Adventures of Dr. McNinja.
• "Son of a witch!" is a common expression in Bruno the Bandit.
• This insult is reserved to Jadis in the Buildingverse (mostly Girls Next Door uses it but it's also acknowledged in Roommates (here it's the very first word spoken by her ex.)) sometimes even her son (Jareth) gets "son of a witch" like here.
• In Cheshire Crossing, the Wicked Witch of the West explains to Mary Poppins that her unfamiliarity with Oz caused her to make a crucial mistake... And punctuates with "Welcome to Oz, witch!" as she throws a bucket of water at her.
• In Gunnerkrigg Court, used from one Annie to another. Her double can't help but laugh.
• Homestuck has a running catchphrase "BLUH BLUH HUGE BITCH". On this page it is changed to "HUGE WITCH". Even though the lady in question is not a Witch, but a Seer.
  • Betty "Batterwitch" Crocker, anyone?
• Not a dialogue example, but Rhymes With Witch is the name of a side comic done by Randy Milholland.
• Inverted in Skin Horse, when Sweetheart (who is, after all, a female dog) calls Violet Bee a "rhymes-with-bitch" so as not to say a word she considers impolite.
• In Wilde Life, the protagonist's landlady, Barbara Yaga, tells him not to be late with the rent, because "I'm a real witch." This is actually more of a Sarcastic Confession.
• In Yokoka's Quest, the unnamed woman chasing Betelgeuse in the prologue angrily calls her "Witch!" (despite her being the one casting a curse on that same page).

Web Animation

• The Helluva Boss episode "Western Energy" begins with Stolas having an argument with his wife Stella, during which he calls her a "witch".
• In the more recent stories on My Story Animated, the most common insult targeted towards a girl's Arch-Enemy is "witch".

Web Original

• In the TableTop episode where Jesse Cox and Nika Harper both play Stone Age with Wil Wheaton, Jesse says this after Nika "curses" him into rolling a one on his die.
  Nika: You wanna know what I am? I'm a wizard!
  Jesse: Get behind me, witch!
  Jesse (in a Confession Cam): I'm sure Nika thinks she's a wizard, but I think she's more of a witch, with a B.
• Parodied, or perhaps inverted in the Abridged Series of Winx Club.
  Stella: Stay away from the bitches at Cloud Tower. Oh, sorry, I meant witches. Wait, no, I was right the first time, bitches.

Western Animation

• Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Used a couple times against the sorceress-queen (who more than earned it), and Supertrooper renegade Darkstar (who really hasn't). Killbane's really fond of the insult.
• Tarantulas occasionally refers to Femme Fatale Blackarachnia as "witch" on Beast Wars. And no, this show does not use magic...
  • Sometimes when show is broadcast the word "witch" is replaced with "widow," likely due to this trope. Of course, seeing how has she was a black widow spider, that one at least made sense.
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers
  • The episode "Future Shock" featured descendants of Looten Plunder, Dr. Blight, and Verminous Skumm as the villains. At one point, the three villains visit Dr. Blight and Looten Plunder. Dr. Blight addresses her descendant as "witch" during the scene.
  • In "101 Mutations", Dr. Blight is disdainfully called a witch by Wheeler's cousin Joey.
• Chaotic: When Alpha Bitch Krystella makes her debut, Peyton imitates the sound of a bus stopping and announces that "the witchmobile has just pulled in!" In a later episode, he makes a remark to Krystella about tripping over her broomstick.
• The Spanish variant might have been parodied in the Show Within a Show of The Cleveland Show, "Esteban y Las Amores De Esteban," in which Esteban's mother turns out to be a bruja...who calls him "mi hijo..."
• Occurred on The Critic in the episode "A Song for Margo".
  Eleanor: I never knew you had this itch.
  Shackleford: Live and learn, you wicked witch!
  Eleanor: I wish I hadn't used the word "itch".
• Danny Phantom: Sam, while possessed by an Artifact of Doom and beginning to turn into a dragon, calls Rich Bitch Paulina a shallow little witch.
• Any time Scrooge McDuck calls Magica de Spell "You witch!" or "That witch!" on DuckTales.
• The Fairly OddParents! episode where they traveled to the Old West and met Vicky's ancestor:
  Cosmo: Even in the Old West, she's a heartless evil witch!
• In the Gravity Falls episode "Little Gift Shop of Horrors" the Hand Witch is seen reading a magazine that says "Witches be Trippin".
• In an episode of Hercules: The Animated Series, the way Hades says "Witch" in reference to Hecate counts, even if she is a literal witch (a demigod sorceress who's trying to take over the Underworld.) The voice clip is actually recycled in House of Mouse where Hades is calling Daisy a witch instead (while sitting with Maleficent and Ursula.)
• An episode of Hey Arnold! where Helga changes one of her perfectionist sister's grades from a "A" to "B+", leading Olga to have an emotional breakdown, has Helga refer to Olga as a "pompous, overbearing, arrogant witch".
• Hotel Transylvania: The Series: "Casualties of Wart" has Mavis say "witchin'" in the same manner someone would say "bitchin'".
• Rich Bitch Pizzazz has a habit of calling the titular character of Jem a "witch".
• Copperhead calls Cheetah a witch in Justice League after she slashed him for getting a little too close to her.
• Miraculous Ladybug: In "Dark Cupid", Alya angrily calls Chloé a witch when she sees how she humiliated Kim.
• My Life as a Teenage Robot: Jenny is choking on Vexus' exhaust. She manages to get out "What a... witch!"
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic plays with this: Diamond Tiara's mother is Rich with a Capital B (and an omitted "t" but that's quibbling).
• The Owl House: In the final episode of Season 1, Luz attacks Lilith (who is an actual witch) in a rage after apparently losing Eda, especially with the revelation that Lilith was the one who cursed Eda to begin with. When Lilith insists that she just wants to talk:
  Luz: Talk to the glyph, witch!
• At the end of Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico, it's revealed that one of the culprits for el Chupacabra was the wife, Charlene, who was only with him for his money and was in a relation with her accomplice, Mr. Smiley. After the two get carted off to jail, Luis' mother steps up saying she never trusted that "bruja". When Mystery Inc. ask about the word, Fred, who had been studying Spanish, explains it means "witch.
• Lampshaded on The Simpsons. After Marge is revealed to be an actual witch in a Treehouse of Horror short, Bart exclaims, 'Well, I'll be a son of a witch!'
• When Supergirl makes her debut in Superman: The Animated Series, she ends up confronting Granny Goodness, and declared, "I'm shutting down this psycho witch!" Granny reacts as if she used the other word.
• In one episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), April does an Aliens homage with a giant insect queen, but since it's a kids' cartoon it has to be this:
  Get away from him, you witch!
• This memorable exchange on Teen Titans. The line refers to the comics, where Terra's Jerkass Deadpan Snarker comic book version would refer to her 'friends' with horrible nicknames. "Witch" being a favorite for Raven, given her powers and habits. ^note Terra actually got the nickname from Cyborg, who affectionately calls Raven "Witch." After the Terra fiasco, Raven doesn't allow anybody other than Cyborg to call her "Witch"... presumably because Terra made it too painful.
  Raven: Terra.
  Terra: Raven.
  Raven: Traitor!
  Terra: Witch!
• Whereas Transformers: Animated brings to you: Glitch with a Capital B... and without a lower-case l.
• In Underfist, a failed pilot for a Spin-Off of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Mindy at one point bemoans that she was such a witch. Her choice of words is rather fitting, given that she actually was a witch.
• Winx Club: When the heroes say witch, they usually mean witches from Cloud Tower; but when the Trix themselves say it, it sounds like they'd wish they were anywhere but a fluffy Magical Girl show.
  Stormy: Being in this room gives me potions class nightmares!
  Darcy: Well, get over it, witch.
  • The 4Kids dub sometimes had the Trix pronounce "witch" as wi-atch when their emotions were particularly strong.
• In the wake of frying the mole Aqualad's brain the villains started calling Miss Martian a witch in Young Justice.

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