Don Imus: Asshole

By now you've certainly heard about how Don Imus referred to the predominately black women's basketball team at Rutgers as "some nappy-headed hoes." I have three things to say about this.

First, is Don Imus really one to talk about nappy hair?

Second, Don Imus is a douchebag and should be fired. This isn't the first time he's made racist comments, or even the only racist comments he made about the Rutgers team in that very show, and an apology or two simply doesn't cut it. There are certain things that, while one can sincerely apologize for their effects, one just can't take back. Saying he's sorry for being a dick is all fine and well, but it doesn't mean he's not still a racist dick and no sane radio station would want to give him a platform.

Third, just what is the correct way to pluralize ho? According to the New York Times, the word is ho's. The Washington Post says hos. At the Chicago Tribune, it's hoes. The Oxford American Dictionary is no help, giving hos or hoes as correct. American Heritage lists only hos.

Most English words that end in -o add an -es to form the plural, e.g., potatoes, tomatoes, and heroes. There are exceptions, but as ho is a relatively new slang word the intuitive thing to do would be to pluralize it as hoes. The one I'm really confused about is ho's. No word is pluralized with an -'s. The only rationalization I can think of is that the apostrophe stands for an omitted e, much like how it is valid to write OD'd for overdosed, but what I can't figure out is why one would want to omit the e in hoes.