I agree “retard” crosses a line, but “idiot” seems to get a pass. We are looking for excuses to be offended way too often, even though this time I think we collectively are calling it right.

For 6 months, I had trouble getting around after an injury, and my car got what I called my “cripple tag.” Our language has gone from cripple, to handicapped, to disabled, to differently abled, then back to disabled. Every time, the chattering classes who were neurotically concerned about being offensive forced the change, up until “differently abled” seemed just too cutesy.

I am double plus uneasy being on the same side as the language police.