Social media….such an interesting phenomenon. Email came about just as my generation was entering college so most people my age never had to “reconnect”… we never really lost touch. Classmates.com, My Space and Facebook connected us with classmates we were never really truly “friends” with and suddenly, as adults, cliques no longer mattered. Everybody is everybody’s friend…until you cross the line.

So what constitutes crossing the line? Why do we unfriend someone? Do the rules for unfriending vary depending on the “real” connection we have with someone? For those of us working and living in the public eye, how do we balance connections with the community and privacy?

I have one simple rule.

Anyone who repeatedly uses the word ‘moist’ in any messages or communications will be blocked. Ew. What a horrible word. I wish I could talk to the person who came up with this word and ask what the hell they were thinking. I don’t want a moist cupcake. I want a yummy one. Betty Crocker…take note. The word is so repulsive, not only to me but to millions of other English speaking people. I just did a little googling. Here is the translation for moist in several other languages. (This is according to google. They seem to have a lot of fun at work, perhaps from drinking or eating a lot of sugar so take it for what its worth…)

Filipino      basa-basa

French       humide

Spanish      humedo

Italian         umido

German     feucht

Creole        Imid

And my favorite…Swedish…fuktig.

Moisture…fine. Moisturize…go for it. Moisten…ummmmm…no. Moist…never. If Ms. Crocker wanted to give me a basa-basa cupcake I’d say sure! (I don’t think I’d want a fuktig cupcake but to each his own.) I once had a viewer private message me poetry several times a day. This in itself was a little too much to take but throw in that all of the poems used the word moist, several  times, blocked. My children know I despise this word and will often start singing it in the car. (I just turn up Drunk on a Plane and belt it out louder than they are singing…parenting at its finest.)

I think that is really the only time I unfriended someone. The lesson to be had here is simple: I’m easy going, I share my experiences and many of my thoughts with friends, acquaintances, and friends I’ve never met. I appreciate all of my ‘friends’ be them new, old, gently used, or social media based only. I DO NOT like the word moist.