Yup. However, verbal abuse is not grounds for physical assault. In
fact, emotional abuse is not even a crime.
Here's why I'm leaning on this point. My first boyfriend had this thing where once his younger brother wouldn't leave his bedroom. The younger brother was tired of being dismissed like a dog, you see. So the older boyfriend dragged him around by the hair until he bled and snarled: "If I wouldn't have to pay for it, I'd throw you out the window!" Well, they worked things out eventually that evening. But as I walked home and asked whether he'd do the same to me, he informed me that he imagined I'd "be more obedient than that."
All this. For annoyance.
I'm going to add that I've had boyfriends say "I guess I deserve to be slapped for that" and I replied "Don't even joke about that. I'm not going to hit you unless it's absolutely necessary for my self-defense, and I trust that won't be happening." So yeah. No accusations that I take violence against men lightly, either.
Screw violence in relationships. So boring.
Anyway, I get panicky when I annoy people now.
Labeling it mere "annoying" behavior is white-washing that such behavior would be labeled a form of abuse if I mentioned a man doing it. It's a rationalization based on gender of the perpetrator.
See, you didn't quote the part where you explained that she was screaming at him and cursing him. Maybe she did his eggs wrong on purpose. Or got in his face a bit.
Folks need to stop accusing me of being secretly sexist. It's driving me up the wall.
And "losing one's temper" isn't a rational decision. I've had a crazy girlfriend physically lock me in her house while she screamed at me for hours about what a worthless person I was. I would have left, but I would have had to break a window to get out. i'm a generally calm person, but this obviously sent me up the wall. If I was a more impulsive type, yeah that could have been messy.
I'm not sure why your impulse wouldn't have been breaking the window rather than breaking the jerk's face.