While driving in the car, my nine year old, reading a book for "Tweens", called from the back seat, "Mom, what's a broad?"

"It's another name for woman," I started, "But it's not an accepted term, some see it as derogative..." now I was stumbling, "Ah...some people don't like that term, they think it's a name that makes women feel...insignificant, waved aside." Or does it? What comes up for me when I hear "broad" is a strong woman, in her late 60's, with a cigarette in one hand and playing cards in the other hand, a woman who raises one eyebrow at you and replies dryly, "Who the hell are you supposed to be?" or "Hold on, it's going to be a bumpy night". The term brings up images of the film noir's femme fatale who has the power to throw the detective off his game, just by walking into the room. "Some people kind of like the term," I continued, "It could be seen as a nickname of sorts, like dame, tomato, chick, Betty."

What is an excepted nickname for a woman? More importantly, why do some, perfectly acceptable terms for "woman", get on our nerves? My big pet peeve is when I'm (very politely) called "Ma'am" by someone serving me in a store. I, like many woman, insist, "Oh, please no, I'm too young to be a ma'am!" but if someone calls me "Honey" or "Sweetie" I soften to them, terms that imply weakness and frailty. I am a ma'am, and after having four children, I am certainly old enough to be called one, but my crazed desire to cling to my youth leads me to instantly like someone who refers to me as a "babe" or "chick", other terms for young offspring.

As I blather on about the political correctness and feminist views on labels I glance up in my rearview mirror and notice my daughter's furrowed brow at my explanation. That is when I suddenly stop and ask, "Uh, what's the sentence?"

She glanced down and read the sentence that spurned on this intellectual dissection of the battle of the sexes, that had me questioning my own beliefs in what is acceptable to call woman, and what created a panic to install the right phrasing for the sake of my daughter's development:

"I have been to England, have you ever been abroad?"

I shared a picture on Facebook and some people were horrified, it was a picture of a deer, obviously hit by a car and someone had tied a "Get well soon" balloon to it's leg. I thought it was hilarious and promptly shared it. Many responses were "Who would do this?" and "Why would anyone think this was funny?!" I looked at the picture more closely to see if I could see what they were seeing, did the person hit the deer on purpose to capture the shot? Not likely. Was there anything immoral or illegal? Nope. I think this is one of those half glass moments, where some people only see death, and mockery. I am on the other side where I see someone making the best of a bad situation. I mean, the balloon is instilling positive thoughts of getting better, there's the irony! And I love me some irony. There is nothing anyone can do for the deer, I'd be mortified if I saw a picture of someone trying to recesitate a deer, to tell you the truth! Let's also look at the amount of effort this kind of picture requires: Deer are usually found in more suburban or country areas, therefore the person would have had to drive, possibly quite a distance, to the nearest store that sold helium balloons, ordered one, and then would have driven back to snap that picture. That in itself deserves a nod in effort for the sake of art...and by art I mean humour. There have been more attacks on people's "funny" posts on Facebook than I've ever seen before.  "You should be more aware of how your posts will effect people" is the mantra of these internet police. I remember the days, when something seemed offensive to you, that you could just... turn it off. Do these people think that their finger wagging will actual change a person's sense of humour or their opinions? I'm scratching my head looking at the heated debates and rise in emotions in the comment sections, why don't these people just "unfriend" the offensive person and move on? People are getting more and more sensitive and this need to attack and judge is giving us movements like banning the word "bossy". Stand up comedians are avoiding colleges because they have been instructed to be sensitive, radio personalities have moved off radio to podcasts and satellite radio to find a forum to speak honestly and openly. Humour is going underground, jokes are threatened to be a black market item! So, you can ask this comedian if I will be censoring my Facebook page? My reply: in the wise words of Bette Midler, "If they can't take a joke, fuck ‘em”