So apparently some people are offended by the use of the word “lame”, which I use to mean something like “mildly pathetic”. I guess because the word “lame” literally means “disabled”. I’m not seeking to debate if this is reasonable or overly PC (hence the forum).
Example usage: “It’s kind of lame that my vocabulary is so poor that I had to throw this question to the Dope.”
If I said it’s “pathetic”, the tone of the comment is wrong, crossing the line from “self-deprecating” into “I have self-esteem issues”.
For bonus points, what’s a synonym for “crazy” without the mental-illness connection? As in “irrational” or “ill-considered”, but with more of a tone of outrage. E.g., “Your boss expects you to work on Christmas? That’s crazy!” (Hmm… maybe “outrageous” actually works well there.)
“Weak,” (“That’s weak, dude”) has a very similar slang connotation to lame without the comparison to being disabled. Since weak is a general term that can be applied to things as well as people (weak tea), even a 99-pound weakling could hardly take offense.
Actually, ridiculous itself would also work for the second situation.
As for the overly-sensitive issues, I imagine it’d be best to explain to that person what term you would use for whomever they think you’re maligning with the word “lame”.
I think others have adequately answered the thesaurus part of your question.
So here’s food for thought - why are these things offensive to people? I guess “lame” has an unfortunate association with negativity towards the disabled.
But any similar word you choose is going to have some negative connotation, even if it isn’t associated directly with bigotry.
So avoid the issue altogether by rephrasing in a positive way. Instead of “that’s weak” you could say “x would be so much better” or “we could improve it so much by doing y”.
Or use humor instead. For your OP example you could say something like “a band of flying monkeys ate all the thesauruses in my town and now I need your help to brainstorm alternatives to the phrase ‘lame’”.
