At my anger management class this week, I'm going to bring up two words and an expression that are causing me to want to step on bugs that aren't even in my path.

• “Learnings.” This is part of the PowerPoint culture. We can’t simply learn something. That would be too too homely, and a failure; after all, we read at least a hundred bullet points, did we not? But neither can we politely declare, “I learned three things today.” That sounds so brash! And so we say, meekly, “I took away three learnings …”

• “Wonderings.” I'm peripherally involved with an institution where employees don't criticize one another's ideas; rather, they express their “wonderings." And believe me: Their wonderings are never, “Gadzooks, however did you conjure such an equitable and elegant solution?”

• “Just a thought.” When this phrase appears at the beginning of an e-mail, watch out: Some seriously passive-aggressive stuff on the way. When it appears at the end of an e-mail, it means something else. It means, “Somewhere in the course of writing this e-mail, it has dawned on me that my idea is utter baloney. But I’ve spent so much time writing the e-mail, that I’d rather you shit-can my idea, because it’ll be so much less painful for you than for me. 'kay? Bye!"

Let's make this group therapy. What do you have?