Tricky one.

I would never want to hurt anyone's feelings. At the same time, I realize that what might be perfectly innocuous, or even beneficial, to one person might be offensive to someone else. It all depends on one's point of view.

Personally, I don't mind being offended once in a while. Maybe because I lived in England for some time, where verbal sparring is a form of art .... I never got very good at it, but I came to realize the game is to give back as good as you get. Not that I'm advocating such 'games' on this forum, mind you!

I am a student of the English language, and I've studied the history of some of the words that many people object to. (In fact, the 'a' word that Doreen mentions above derives from a proto-Indo-European root and can be found in the works of Shakespeare.) These words have fascinating origins, and, in my opinion, can be used in fascinating ways. Having said that, they can also be used in unimaginative, stultifying, and, yes, sometimes intentionally hurtful ways.

I appreciate that some people might, on occasion, object to my use of language. I usually try to be 'tasteful,' but if an occasional 'a' word or 's' word slips out .... well .... there it is.

I'm all for the group hug! I think it goes like this:

(((((((((((((hug))))))))))))

Rachel