Offence is a choice. One which hurts you more than the person you're choosing to be offended over. Why would you choose to harm yourself?
Laughing is also a choice and if done sincerely it has the power to quickly defuse situations and even get them on your side. I've found that this works far better than providing facts. Here's how it works.
Them - you're a specky wee mongo.
Me - Haha! Your right enough. I probably should update my specs.
Them - Yeah they're really geeky
Me - haha! Fair enough. What do you suggest? Round frames?
Them - yeah that'd suit your face better.
Me - Thanks I appreciate it. I'll check out round ones next time.
These situations usually end up in a back and forth of insults and eventually lead to violence, but laughing and treating it like a joke or serious advice leads to a sort of friendship, which you have far more control over.
Jump on to twitter and find something you disagree with. Laugh and treat it as serious and see how different tha decision becomes.
Word's have as much power as you allow them to have. When you give them no power the person welding them quickly becomes weak and will take any out they can find (agreeing with you and giving you the power in the conversation).
