In case you wanted to know the technical term for this behavior

[brigdh]

In the middle of a dense, jargon-filled article about politeness in conversation:

Points made by allusion to social-class status are sometimes called snubs; those made by allusions to moral respectability are sometimes called digs; in either case one deals with a capacity at what is sometimes called 'bitchiness'.

Bwahahaha! I think it's the quotes around bitchiness that really make it: I can picture the grey-haired professor pausing ever so slightly before he types the word.