being hypersensitive to anything that could directly or indirectly cause emotions to flare up (usually not worth the bother)

Molybdenumblue said it really well elsewhere:

If you believe that other human beings are a useful source of insight, you would do well to make some effort not to offend.

Yes, hypersensitivity is by definition uncalled for, but when attempting to communicate with human beings and encourage their reply, it's clearly useful to choose words which are less likely to invoke negative emotions. It's possible to keep the juggling balls of precision, reason, and sensitivity all in the air at the same time; that it can be difficult is not sufficient reason not to try.