For the last few months I have been pondering the word, Sorry (the saddest word, according to Elton).

This comes after I read something on LinkedIn that women tend to apologize more at work than men. So I started to realize, that yes, I am guilty of this phenomenon too, yet I am not tormented, distressed or disturbed by the things I’ve been apologizing for.

One day while doing volunteer work, I was struck while talking to a Vietnamese woman. I went to turn off the lights in the room we were leaving, but I didn’t know where the lightswitch was, “I’m sorry” I blurted out, for which she said, “in my country, we only say I’m sorry when we’ve made a mistake. No mistake was made here”. I have not forgotten.

And recently at a concert, all of the people streaming past my seat apologized, “I’m sorry” as they muscled by me. But being someone who works with words, I thought, isn’t “excuse me” better? Well yes, I am obviously hyper-sensitive to anyone apologizing now, but can we change the lexicon folks?

While we’re at it, another five-letter word, worry. “No worries”, “don’t worry about it”, “try not to worry” and “worry not”, OY. I’m not going to lie, I’m triggered by this one. I like to worry, I am friends with worry, I enjoy the worry! I cannot proceed in my daily life without a worry in the world.

Sorry…

What’s your one trigger word?