The 7th Circuit flexes it’s hip hop muscle: U.S. v. Murphy, 406 F. 3d 857 (2005).

The 7th Circuit, or more likely one of their overeager clerks, thought it necessary to clarify the trial court’s transcript with corrected spelling, usage instruction, and example from Ludacris of the use of the word “ho,” as in “snitch bitch ho.”

The trial transcript quotes Ms. Hayden as saying Murphy called her a snitch bitch “hoe.” A “hoe,” of course, is a tool used for weeding and gardening. We think the court reporter, unfamiliar with rap music (perhaps thankfully so), misunderstood Hayden’s response. We have taken the liberty of changing “hoe” to “ho,” a staple of rap music vernacular as, for example, when Ludacris raps “You doin’ ho activities with ho tendencies.”

It’s only a matter of time before the next round of judges feel it necessary to elucidate on Too-Short’s “bi-atch” or Snoop’s “shizzle.”

See footnote 1.