You can visit the link to watch the video, if you like. Basically what happened was that this woman was talking about how agencies supposedly don't know how much money they have (because of the failure of the omnibus bill, etc., etc.)-- when she comes out with this:
"And I was at – forgive the expression – a Christmas party at the Department of Justice and people actually were really worried about this."*gasp*
I don't know, Ms. Totenberg... I think of myself as a forgiving person (well, ok, maybe I'm not actually that good at forgiving, but let's just pretend I am), but you've really crossed a line this time. You were at a Christmas party?? Ahem! Excuse me, but I feel sure you meant to say you were at a holiday party... or possibly a seasonal or winter-themed party. But definitely nothing to do with... Christmas. (Oh, the shame!)
You know, maybe we should just start saying (in hushed tones) "the c-word" when we refer to Christmas... Oh, but oops. There's already a forbidden-in-polite-company "c-word", isn't there? (Even though I only learned of its existence a few years ago, sheltered as I am.) Oh well. We'll have to come up with some other solution. Can't have people running around saying "Christmas" all the time!
Seriously, though, lady... No-one forced you to refer to a "Christmas party". Next time just leave the word out altogether, rather than apologizing for it. This just makes you look dumb.
