bugaboo

He later apologized, adding that he misspoke and meant to say “bugaboo.”

“While attempting to use the word ‘bugaboo’ in a hearing, I used a phrase that is offensive,” he said.

For Mr. Ackman, and for many Republicans and segments of the moderate left, diversity, equity and inclusion or D.E.I. programs have become a bugaboo, shorthand for liberal hypocrisy in academia and wrongheaded business practices.

It is the climate change bugaboo that humans mostly either deny or ignore.

And there's an intelligence in that rendering, as if she admirably recognizes that she doesn't want her kids to inherit her bugaboos.