Not Just Words

I had a whoops! moment the other day. A friend and I were working on a Python program together, and at one point she was asking me how I would do something. And without thinking, I said "Well, we could just pass this variable in," or "Just put this inside of the loop". And after a while, she said "Stop saying JUST! You make it sound like it's supposed to be easy."

Thank god she said that, because I didn't even notice what I was doing. I immediately apologized and stopped using that word.

But it's amazing how (just) one word can be so alienating, and it's important to be conscious of what we say when we're learning with others. The thing is, I've often been on the other side of that equation--where I felt stupid because I was talking to someone much more experienced, and they were using words that made it seem so easy. And I hated it!

Another thing: when you feel alienated by a word or how someone is saying something, tell them! Because a lot of times they may not be aware of it, and they may have the best of intentions but just not realize what they are doing.

So on that note, what words do you find alienating?