To the OP – don’t pay it, it will blow over. Been there, done that, it disappeared eventually.
Re the subplot/’little wife’ saga:
The OP’s use of words did strike me as definitely quite strange and possibly indicative of some 1950’s attitude to ‘the little woman indoors’ and all that.
But there’s absolutely nothing wrong with someone being offended on behalf of someone else. Especially when the ‘someone else’ does not have a voice in the current discussion. Even if the person it originally referred to was not offended – this does not preclude other people being offended by a certain use of language. It may not be cause for huge moral outrage (which no one has really expressed here anyway) but if someone finds that use of language odd or offensive in some way that’s their perogative. Why would anyone else have a problem with this? If no one ever spoke about about the things they find offensive or troubling then a lot of important developments would never have taken place.
Plus, speaking up gives the OP a chance to explain themselves and we all learn a valuable lesson about communication.