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NEW YORK (AP) It isn't what you say that counts, but who you say it about.

That's a lesson from the firestorm set off last week by Rush Limbaugh when he called a Georgetown University student a "slut" and "prostitute."

But maybe, even in the untamed world of talk-show blather, "slut" already held sway as the new s-word, an epithet that crosses the line whomever it targets and is best avoided altogether by gabmeisters.

That's what left-leaning talk-show host Ed Schultz learned painfully way back last spring. On his MSNBC show he referred to conservative commentator Laura Ingraham as a "right-wing slut." Amid the outcry triggered among Ingraham fans, he apologized, announcing that he and MSNBC had mutually agreed to his suspension for several days.

But Schultz's indiscretion was fleeting compared with Limbaugh's repeated attacks on Sandra Fluke.

The 30-year-old law student had been invited to testify to a House committee about her school's health care plan, which does not include contraception. After Republican lawmakers barred her testimony, Democrats welcomed her to speak to them at an unofficial session.

On his radio show, Limbaugh slammed Fluke as a "slut" who wanted the government to subsidize her sex life: "She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex," he said.

Then, the next day, he added this demand: "If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, thus pay for you to have sex ... we want you to post the videos online, so we can all watch."

For some reason, these assaults agitated many women and men.

Meanwhile, advertisers by the dozens and even a few stations began dropping Limbaugh's show.

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Rush wreaks the s-word, but why are people so mad?