I’m mostly working by accepting what amounts to received wisdom from bloggers, who say that “idiot” and “moron” (and for that matter “retarded”) are not okay. I don’t desperately want any of these words, and the above alternatives exist without (as far as I can tell) offending the bloggers or the people they speak for, so I invest a minor effort in the vocab shift. I’m less willing to do this sort of thing when there is no viable alternative word with the right features.
I use “crazy” and “insane” sometimes, but I have been encouraging the preexisting shift in their meanings towards a not-necessarily-negative meaning of “extreme” (e.g. “this ice cream is insanely yummy!”)
I’m mostly working by accepting what amounts to received wisdom from bloggers, who say that “idiot” and “moron” (and for that matter “retarded”) are not okay. I don’t desperately want any of these words, and the above alternatives exist without (as far as I can tell) offending the bloggers or the people they speak for, so I invest a minor effort in the vocab shift. I’m less willing to do this sort of thing when there is no viable alternative word with the right features.
I use “crazy” and “insane” sometimes, but I have been encouraging the preexisting shift in their meanings towards a not-necessarily-negative meaning of “extreme” (e.g. “this ice cream is insanely yummy!”)