Others might have been blunter – stop being such a wimp, they might say.
Raising interest rates would have been another, much blunter solution to the problem of an overheating housing market.
In private, Mr Lee was blunter: "You guys are giving China a free run in Asia," the Financial Times reports him saying.
A pair of razorsharp incisor tasks jut forward from the lower jaw and grind against two blunter versions in the upper jaw.
"Men tend to be blunter in the workplace," says Michael Crom, executive vice President at Dale Carnegie Training. "it would be nice if they would cushion things a little better."
