It all started years ago at a dinner party, when my then roommate pointed out how much it bothers him when songs thoughtlessly employ the simple phrase "she said." This sort of mighty pop-culture minutiae (thankfully) doesn't exist at most dinner tables, but it's just the sort of thrilling conversation that—mixed with food and a bottle of cheap wine—could make a night at our house go on forever. My roommate's point was this: the lyric "she said" is little more than an "invalid rock cliché"—an often over-dramatic, reductive, space-filling universality meaning absolutely nothing. As much as I dismissed this at first—mostly based on the idea that no two commonly connected words, no matter how overused, could ruin an otherwise great song/band for me—it stuck with me. As much as I hate to admit it, his theory had legs. Over the years since, whenever I come across "she said" in a song, it virtually kills it for me. Whether it be from The Beatles or just about every Hold Steady song, the "she said" stigma has set in, and become an instant deal-breaker.

But why? I mean, for someone whose relationship with music is as unhealthy as mine, why can't I just let it slide? Probably because I never get a chance—those two words are everywhere. Funkadelic, U2, The Smiths, R. Kelly, Dylan, Twiztid (OK, I'm not listening to any Twiztid these days, or ever, I just wanted to point out that these lyrics transcend all the way to the Juggalo world) and just about everyone else who's ever sung a note on record.

What's even more nefarious about that pair of dreaded words is the underlying possibility that they represent the usual drubbing of woman in song. Since the high majority of "she said" offenders are male singers, the "she" in question is a voiceless character, whose "said" is little more than the opinion of the dude with the mic. All you get is to take his word for it, since what she actually said is a mystery. It's a one-way male street—and the reason "she said" is a staple of bad emo ("She said 'don't let it go to your head, boys like you are a dime a dozen'"—Taking Back Sunday) and token misogynist hiphop ("She said she never tried to take it in the butt"—Ludacris).

I know, getting so hung up on a pair of single syllable words is downright intolerable—just another excuse to completely sap the fun out of music through over-analysis. But seriously: next time you hear "she said" coming from your stereo—which will happen probably sooner than you think—try to ignore it. I dare you.