Why BitchX is called BitchX?

I went to #BitchX on EFnet and asked the question there. People were able to tell me that the original script for ircII made by Trench and HappyCrappy was already called BitchX: A version of their script from late 1995 contains the line

assign versionmesg ^BBitchX^B v713 by Trench and Happycrappy

They did not know why the original script was called BitchX, though.

Additionally, there are various websites on BitchX made by dedicated users with many tips and tricks on using the client, scripts for BitchX, etc. One of these websites, made by izzo, tells us the following story:

The name comes from "Bitch Cross" - one of Shakespeare's famous historical tragedies, Henry V, where King Henry proclaims, "Blessèd are souls of bitches' cross". (Source)

So, according to izzo, the name would come from Shakespeare's Henry V. The same claim is made in this article and in this forum thread.

So there's one story... judge for yourself!

I would add that it is also at least as likely that there is no deeper meaning behind the name. BitchX started out as a script for ircII written by two enthusiastic hackers in the mid-90s. Scripts in those days oftentimes had meaningless random names. It may just have been the first thing which came to their mind, and it stuck.


In "BitchX Tutorial by Ferry Boender" I found following:

BitchX can be a real Bitch to work with.

I concluded from the Urban Dictionary definition that it might mean that the BitchX is classy software that does the right thing no matter what and doesn't care what anyone thinks about that!


I found this explanation here:

bitchx - The rudest irc client (in many ways). Evil? Use Bitchx.

Also this wiki page:

BitchX is known for its distinct messages when quitting the program. An example is:

"Khaled uses BitchX. CTCP TROUT THIS, BITCH!" Where reference is made to the creator of the competitive program mIRC, Khaled Mardam-Bey. Other reports can be found in /etc/bitchx/BitchX.quit.