Oh yes, and we use 'deaf' and 'blind' that way, too, of course, when someone 'isn't getting the point' or 'can't see what's right under their nose'. And those are even harder to root out because they arise from actual metaphor or recognisable, if faulty, parallels, so I guess they feel logical in a way that 'lame' and 'deaf' in the 'something bad' sense do not. But I'm really trying to be conscious of not using those first type of expressions, too. As you said in your reply to another comment: I have a good vocabulary and the language isn't going to run out of words if I stop using a few in hurtful contexts. Very good point, that.