This past week, I’ve caught myself saying “crazy” and “insane” a lot, mostly in reference to my schedule for the rest of this quarter. (Note to future Medillians: Taking two techniques classes at the same time, plus an RPA and seminar, is not advisable!)

But I began to wonder if I was being offensive — unintentionally, of course. I’m a dedicated wordsmith who cares about being kind and tactful, so I refuse to call things “retarded” or “gay” when they’re not. (When I worked at a summer camp, I even chastised my campers for saying “retarded,” and I know a teacher who does the same thing when her students call something “gay.”)

However, I do use plenty of words — such as “lame” and “dumb”– that once referred to medical conditions but have lost most of their original meaning. And I don’t usually feel bad about that.

“Crazy” isn’t a proper medical term, anyway, and “insane” also has a legal connotation. I definitely would not use “bipolar” or “schizophrenic” to carelessly describe something chaotic (not even the life of Britney Spears).

Some people with mental illness have taken disparaging words and turned them into a badge of honor. Jerod Poore — a “bipolar, epileptic, autistic, agoraphobic uberspazz” — runs the Crazy Meds Web site, “by crazy people for crazy people,” to serve as a clearinghouse on treatments for just about any condition you can think of.

What do you think? Am I too sensitive, or should “crazy” go the way of the dodo bird?

(Photo credit: ArtWerk via Flickr)