Right. My problem is that there are words I think shouldn't be used in polite company, like the n-word (except by black people). So I'm inconsistent in this. It's a knot I haven't figured out how to untangle.

It's trying to make codes for what words can be used in order to separate us (the good people) from them (the bad people). And it will have classist effects - the people who are educated at higher institutions will be able to sneer at the uneducated who still use words like urban and the poor.

Terry Pratchett has a good vocabulary and is gripping to read.

One of the book series that taught me the most was the Earthsea trilogy.