I was employing reductio to illustrate the invalidity of the argument. Words should be chosen for accuracy in most situations, but to each his own. I called something retarded in front of the mother of a literal retard before, and she was cool about it, but I later wished I hadn't. Pretty sure that's because my conscience is working correctly, and has nothing to do with the degree to which I meet anyone's standards of conduct.

That's called tact, sir.