"I have the hide of a rhino." You mistake yourself Steve, unless rhinos are much more thin-skinned than I have been led to understand.

Words really do extend their meaning. If I accused someone of being a silly bugger it would not be a comment on their sexual inclinations. A journalist writing a dishonest advertising supplement could very likely find themselves accused of prostituting their talents, and deservedly so, though it would indeed have been pejorative. And no subliminal flash in either case.

When you accused Joe of being "arse about face" I take it you were not discussing his anatomical arragements, or talking about sexual antics. No subliminal flash there either, I would confidently say.