A word on its own is meaningless without context or intention.
Cabbage isn't insulting but if I kept calling you one in a derogatory way eventually it would piss you off.
Or a better example, how BSG gets away with saying "Frak" with the censors, even though it means the SAME THING as F*ck. But if they had just said F*uck, it would have been censored.
Or an even better example, the episode of Recess with "Womps".
Cabbage isn't insulting but if I kept calling you one in a derogatory way eventually it would piss you off.
Or a better example, how BSG gets away with saying "Frak" with the censors, even though it means the SAME THING as F*ck. But if they had just said F*uck, it would have been censored.
Or an even better example, the episode of Recess with "Womps".