# What's a non-offensive synonym for "lame"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980 "2012-12-04T18:51:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/21 "2012-12-05T06:58:43Z")
Feeble ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/22 "2012-12-05T11:59:11Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Feeble I’m gonna guess the mentally challenged will object. If their vocabulary permits. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/23 "2012-12-05T12:13:46Z")
Mine is in the thesaurus paste list: inadequate; however for lame I think woefully inadequate is equivalent. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/24 "2012-12-05T12:16:12Z")
Naive ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/25 "2012-12-05T12:23:40Z")
Tell easily-offended folks their recreational outrage is retarded, and results from a desire to self-aggrandize by correcting those less able to feel the pain of others. The only thing more irritating than an ordinary language pedant is a self-appointed political corrector taking upon himself the hurt of the world. These folks promote the notion that those genuinely handicapped in some way are so emotionally incompetent that they cannot distinguish between usages meant to offend and innocent usages meant to convey meaning. Oh…the substitute word for “lame” you are looking for is “crippled.” “That idea is so completely crippled.” oops ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/26 "2012-12-05T12:38:50Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > The only thing more irritating than an ordinary language pedant is a self-appointed political corrector taking upon himself the hurt of the world. These folks promote the notion that those genuinely handicapped in some way are so emotionally incompetent that they cannot distinguish between usages meant to offend and innocent usages meant to convey meaning. Whoa, slow down there, brother (sister?). At one time, the “N word” was accepted language. Similarly, people (myself included) would describe something like an effeminate-sounding telephone ring choice as, “That’s so gay.” These are no longer politically correct, but at the time they were still widely used and their political correctness was being questioned, those questioning that would have been in the group you describe as, _“self-appointed political corrector taking upon himself the hurt of the world”_. I understand the point you’re trying to make, but disagree with it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/27 "2012-12-05T18:59:12Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > 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). I kinda like “embarrassingly counter-intuitive,” myself. > [@tim314](#): > > Example usage: “It’s kind of lame that my vocabulary is so poor that I had to throw this question to the Dope.” For this example, I’d snip that down to “embarrassing.” ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/28 "2012-12-05T19:07:02Z")
That’s why we’ve started referring to my wheelchair-bound sister-in-law as “gimpy.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/29 "2012-12-08T15:06:38Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Tell easily-offended folks their recreational outrage is retarded, and results from a desire to self-aggrandize by correcting those less able to feel the pain of others. > > The only thing more irritating than an ordinary language pedant is a self-appointed political corrector taking upon himself the hurt of the world. These folks promote the notion that those genuinely handicapped in some way are so emotionally incompetent that they cannot distinguish between usages meant to offend and innocent usages meant to convey meaning. > > Oh…the substitute word for “lame” you are looking for is “crippled.” > > “That idea is so completely crippled.” > > oops Your entire argument is a strawman, as no one argues use “lame” is wrong because anyone doesn’t know the difference. Furthermore, what you are saying here is just as self-aggrandizing. It’s tooting your own horn about how you don’t let the offense of others temper what you say. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/30 "2012-12-08T15:13:21Z")
How about “halt”? As in “The halt and the lame”. Used as a verb: To walk with a limp. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/31 "2012-12-09T00:57:56Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > “Your boss expects you to work on Christmas? That’s crazy!” “Your boss expects you to work on Christmas? That’s just bullshit, man!” ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/32 "2012-12-09T01:22:31Z")
> [@echo7tango](#): > > Whoa, slow down there, brother (sister?). At one time, the “N word” was accepted language. Similarly, people (myself included) would describe something like an effeminate-sounding telephone ring choice as, “That’s so gay.” > > These are no longer politically correct, but at the time they were still widely used and their political correctness was being questioned, those questioning that would have been in the group you describe as, _“self-appointed political corrector taking upon himself the hurt of the world”_. > > I understand the point you’re trying to make, but disagree with it. The difference is that “gay” is not objectively bad. It is reasonable to complain about people using it in a pejorative way. Similarly, “nigger” carries with it a lot of negative baggage, to put it mildly. Using either of those terms in a negative fashion is not politically correct because it implies there is something wrong or bad about being gay or black, which itself is no longer politically correct. “Lame”, “retarded”, “weak”, etc. are all objectively bad things, and it is ridiculous to try to deny that. Therefore it is somewhat oversensitive to complain about using them as negative adjectives. Or has political correctness gone so far that we must now pretend there is something positive about being weak, retarded, disabled, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/33 "2012-12-09T01:23:11Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’m gonna guess the mentally challenged will object. If their vocabulary permits. Somewhere, someone would object on their behalf, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980/34 "2012-12-10T15:04:03Z")
I recall Mrs. Huxtable using the term “sorry” in this sense on _The Cosby Show_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-non-offensive-synonym-for-lame/642980.md?page=1)