Apologies are getting so cliche, I'm surprised the PC movement hasn't died out by now. One of the latest apologies comes from Head Football Coach Bill Parcels, for his reference to the 1941 sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. (emphasis mine)

Bill Parcells apologized Monday for calling the surprise plays used in practice "Jap plays," saying the remark was inappropriate.

The Dallas Cowboys coach was talking to reporters at the team's minicamp about how his quarterbacks coach and defensive coordinator try to outdo each other when he made the comment, an apparent reference to Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

"You've got to keep an eye on those two, because they're going to try to get the upper hand," Parcells said about Sean Payton and Mike Zimmer. "Mike wants the defense to do well, and Sean, he's going to have a few ... no disrespect for the Orientals, but what we call Jap plays. OK, surprise things."

Akira Kuboshima, the editor of Japan's American Football Magazine who was in the room, said he wasn't offended but believed some people would be. He also said he was surprised more by the reaction of other reporters than the comment.

This is the phenomenon whereby people aren't actually offended for themselves, but instead are offended for other people. Whether or not the other people take offense doesn't matter very much. It's a nervous disorder, really, most often experienced by liberals who seem to be unable to just roll their eyes or shake their head when they hear something distasteful. Scientists theorize that the cause of the disorder stems from a thinning of the epidermis. Adverse reactions are said to be most severe when offending remarks come from Republicans, whereby the only cure is resignations by the offending party. If the offending party is politically neutral, apologies will usually do the trick, while remarks from Democrats seem to elicit no negative reaction what-so-ever.