Is it really that offensive to say Indians?

I hate worrying about being politically correct all of the time. 

Is it really that offensive to say Indians?  My sister Ali who is a second grade teacher, said that we have to call Indians Native Americans.  I'm sorry, but I think that's dumb.  Indians were Indians forever.  So what's the big freaking deal?  No offense to any Indians who might read my blog.  Maybe if an Indian does read my blog, they could explain if it is offensive or not and why.  Because I just don't get it.  Really.

And so like now I have to say "height challenged" if someone is short??  My husband is short-ish (we're eye to eye at about 5'7), and I call it like I see it.  I don't call him a midget.  I think midget sounds sort of derogatory, so I don't say it.  In fact, his shortness isn't even noticeable unless he's standing next to a super tall guy.  He doesn't look short, in my opinion.  Because he's not petite.  If he were petite, he might look short.  But he's kind of stocky, so his shortness gets thrown off balance by his build.  And what's wrong with the word "short" anyway?

I think the main thing is that people just need to be respectful and thoughtful of other people's feelings.  I am pretty much very against name calling.  Like, in all honesty, I remember calling my sister Ali flat as a board to get her upset when we were teenagers if we were in a fight.  For example, "At least I'm not as flat as a board!"  That's so mean!  And also really very unoriginal.  Sorry Al.  Probably it was because I always wished that I was as flat as a board.  Big boobs are definitely over rated in my opinion. 

So name calling is pretty unacceptable in my house.  Except for on occasion when I have to call one of the other adults who lives here an asshole.  But in my defense, it's almost always justified.  But really that is hardly ever.  And sometimes it's even said a little bit affectionately. 

One time I spell/called Kara the B word and I will never live it down.  I never actually said the B word, just spell/called her it.  In fact if my memory serves me correctly, I didn't necessarily spell/call her a B, I said, "you are acting like such a B."   You would have thought I lit her hair on fire and threw her off the back porch with how hurt and offended she was.  She wrote a huge entry about it in her diary.  In my defense, it was so very justified because she was being such a nasty teen-aged brat and pushing every freaking button that I had in me, but I do still feel guilty.  Sorry Kar.  Love you!  I don't think you are a B!

I'm not very violent at all.  I have never been in a real fight, unless if you consider pulling hair and pinching with my sisters when we were kids.  However I was definitely in a hair pulling stand off with one of my sisters in high school and it sure felt pretty violent.  And one time about six years ago I threw an Allen wrench at Alex in anger.  On the plus side, I have bad aim so there was never an Allen wrench to head connection.

Trust me, he deserved it.

And even though I may have been a little hormonal and pregnant at the time, it was absolutely necessary.  And I may even have screamed like an unrecognizable crazy person in the moment.  I do not feel proud.  Sorry hon.  I meant to miss your head. 

Wait.  All of a sudden this post went from my irritation at constantly feeling the pressure to be PC, to being a confessional about some of the not so finer moments in my life.

Well, in the spirit of confessing, I also once threw my sister Jenney's Puff the Magic Dragon record down the stairs and broke it because I was mad at her.  I know she cried and I felt so guilty but I don't even think I said sorry.  Because I was a defiant brat sometimes.  And I hated to admit I was wrong and I hated to say sorry.  But even though it might be about 30+ years late, sorry Jenney.  I'll never do it again.  I think I really learned my lesson.

I was going to buy Jenney a replacement Puff the Magic Dragon record on ebay and my nephew Jules (her son) beat me to it.  He stole my apology glory.  But that's OK.  I think she felt my verbal apology and accepted it.  And how cute is my apology-thieving nephew Jules anyway? 

This is such a random post.  I don't even know what to title it.

On a completely other subject, do you feel like I over-use commas when I write?  Sometimes my comma use really concerns me.