The trouble with words like that is when they are used as weapons. Essentially Clinton's right, the posion doesn't lie in the word itself, it lies in the way they are used.

In the Irish context, for example, "Taig" is a word used by bigotted loyalists and such to describe Catholic Irish. Used like that it's a label of hate.

The word "Taig" actually means poet. I'd be proud to be referred to as such. It's a very honourable label. But not when it's used as a weapon.

(But when you get a situation where people are supposed to stop using words they use without any offensive intent, like Jamaicans and "pickney", just because some bigots have used similar words, that's absurd.)