I got the idea for this thread after watching Hancock again. Basically (this isn’t really a spoiler) Hancock has a trigger word that when said sets him off pretty bad. Whenever someone says “asshole” it pushed him into doing something (it almost always brings about damage and pain). His word was asshole.
Spoiler:
there is another character later that is like him and also has a trigger: whenever she is called crazy she basically goes nuts.
It got me thinking what mine would be, and rather quickly I knew: Whatever
As in: "Whatever you say." The term is also used to dismiss a previous statement and express indifference
Getting told that sets me off worse then most anything. Argue, fight, or clash in any way with me, but once it’s implied that everything is just dropped and nothing is going to be resolved I get pissed. I don’t really know how to explain why. I guess that someone who would say they believe in something in the first place and then at any sign of being met with disagreement or of losing they just throw in the towel without actually meaning it as a total copout. I’d rather lose an argument then hear it end that way. Infuriates the hell out of me.
So any of you have a word (or maybe even phrase) that does that to you?
The best example I can come up with for one I’ve seen work on a mass scale is for a male to tell a female who is acting hysterically to “calm down.” I’ve never seen or heard of an exchange like that end well. <!-- s

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