There is a lot of outrage about. A day rarely passes without a headline about someone who was outraged for some reason. So outraged are they that they feel compelled to tell the world via a media outlet. These outrages are many and varied - not getting a seat on a bus, being mistaken for being pregnant rather than just fat, having to queue for more than 5 minutes, an ATM malfunction, a mobile network being down for 30 seconds, not getting the right meal on a flight, and so forth.

Their gravity is so earnest that they must be spoken of often and publicly and like the Ancient Mariner, the outraged is compelled to stop passers-by to tell their sorry tale. Unlike the Ancient Mariner (who, it must be said, did have something to complain about*), they stoppeth more than one in three. Possibly all.

Synonyms for outrage include "indignation, fury, rage, shock, resentment, disgust" particularly as it pertains to moral or ethical issues. Perhaps the word people are really looking for, the better fit, is irritation. Saving outrage for genuinely outrageous situations, such as climate change, global inequality, nuclear proliferation and corrupt conduct by public officials, to name but a few, might throw some perspective on the small daily hassles we all encounter.

*Though he had every reason to complain, he didn't.