"Peter Duniho" writes:

Ultimately, no word is worth getting upset about.

If a 230lb hoodlum with a gun confronts you at night on a deserted
street, and says "give me your money or I'll kill you" most of us
would get upset. OK, it's more than a single word. The point is that
words are a form of communication; communication, an expression of
current or future intent and action that may have direct consequences
to us.

Of course words can upset. They can also cause joy, and everything
else. The wonder is that we pretend they cannot cause a change in
emotion.