I'm not lecturing you, man; it was a good thing you saw what had happened and talked about who messed up it was. Thanks for the apology. I'm just replying to people like David and now Tim, who always seem to pop up wherever these types of discussions merge and try to explain it away or shrug it off. imb nailed it when he talked about how he was kind of taken aback by seeing someone use "rape" like that and how it made him feel, and I think that pretty much sums up how a lot of how things have shifted in the better in that regard. I wasn't aware I had such a reputation. I completely understand what you're saying but I seriously don't see how the in-congruence between the two examples is such that one is clearly bad and the other is acceptable. Well, you do now, because you managed to be That Guy. Obviously I'm not tagging you as some kind of "men's rights" nuts, but it's odd how this type of counterpoint always comes up. It's kind of a spin on the whole "I don't like it when things get political" non-point...or maybe it's just being contrary for the hell of it. Lord knows I've done that enough myself. Bottom line is that the word "rape" carries a lot more current and varied baggage than words like "murder" or "kill." Like I said, there's been a lot of very public discussion and debate lately about how women are treated or depicted or the lack thereof, and a lot of that has been in regards to how women are treated specifically based on their sexuality, or what is expected of them sexually, and how fear or avoidance of harassment or assault or worse is a such a prevalent thing even just on an everyday basis. Obviously being murdered is a horrific outcome, but "rape" is an even more loaded word that carries a lot of meaning because of how the act is so skewed in terms of a gender power dynamic. It's representative of a whole lot more than just rape. If you don't want people to say "that ball was murdered!" or "he killed that one" or whatever, that's your call. But it's simply not the same context and they don't carry the same weight.