For some reason, words and expressions have been following me around all day.

I read a rant on a comment thread earlier today where a person used a word a lot of people didn’t like. I knew it was a joke. It reminded me of the time I read a phrase about two gay men “sharing coitus” in a m/m romance and I posted about it on facebook. One gay guy I know, who has the biting wit only a gay man can have, left the comment, “Isn’t coitus something you fry up in a pan with brown sugar?” I couldn’t stop laughing, both at my facebook friend’s comment and that anyone would write about gay men sharing “coitus.”

But I know a lot of people wouldn’t laugh. And I often wonder when people lost their senses of humor. I didn’t find the word I saw earlier today offensive and I’m a gay man. But the people who jumped all over this comment were braced for battle.

Sometimes I think we’ve become a little too PC. Other times I think people who frequent the Interwebs don’t take their meds on schedule.

Then I signed on this evening and I saw that a well known reporter made a comment and everyone was jumping all over him. He only said two words, and he clearly didn’t mean to offend anyone. But the media jumped on him, along with a few loud groups who I think sit and wait for people to slip up, and he issued an apology for something he never intended to hurt anyone with in the first place. And, I don’t think the words were bad. In fact, I wouldn’t have even “gotten” the implications if someone hadn’t called attention to it.

After that, I started to think about my own pet peeves when it comes to words and phrases. I guess we all have them. With me, one phrase I despise is “Modern Woman.” It sounds like the title of a bad TVLand sitcom. It’s also trite and cliche to the point of sickening…to me. I think it bothers me because I come from a long line of women who worked and had careers. My grandmother always worked full time. And my mother’s career as a full time counselor/therapist kept her too busy to think about whether or not she was a “Modern Woman.” My sister works full time in education, so do all the women in my extended family. And, like I said, they’ve all been too busy working hard to bother worrying about PC phrases like “Modern Woman.”

So I guess we all have words and phrases we don’t like. But, trust me, I don’t go ballistic and pull out the heavy artillery when I see the phrase “Modern Woman.” Life’s too damn short.