vanblah

I think we've moved into the area of "intent." What is the intent behind the phrase ...

If my wife walks out of the shower and makes some overtly sexual movement toward me and I say, "I'd hit that." She would be happy to hear it.

If I'm walking down the street with a group of guys and a random woman walks past me and I say, "I'd hit that." She would have EVERY right to be offended and I'd have every expectation of receiving her ire.

If I'm among a group of friends of mixed gender and the phrase is used with regard to one of the men or women in the group the results could be somewhere in between the two scenarios above.

It's intention that causes the problem. And it's the misreading of social cues that lead to problems.

In most societies there are certain "rules" that are followed. When the rules are broken the results can be funny ... but oftentimes at the expense of someone's dignity. I have a serious problem with that. I've been known to indulge in a little schadenfreude sometimes ... it's human nature. But somewhere along the line we went from happy little accidents to outright meanness. I don't care for it anymore at all.

But here's the real deal ... words have absolutely no power. We choose to give them power. The phrase, "I'd hit that," actually ANY PHRASE or WORD means absolutely nothing out of context.

So arguing about these kinds of things is sort of pointless unless you define the context. Is it scenario A or scenario B ... or something else altogether?