In the first game, swashbuckling was handled by using insults to demoralize the pirates until you were victorious. You "leveled up" in sword fighting by learning witty comments. Then, at the final duel, all of the punchlines become useful for different insults. Source of this fascinating gem of video-game writing: Orson Scott Card.
Orson Scott Card is a complex and fascinating person and writer, who writes nuanced and sympathetic characters (Athiests, Catholics, independent women, housewives, nuns, children, Aliens, etc.) with not-clichéd interrelationships.
I find knee-jerk reactions like yours here pretty odd.
There's something really inspiring about creating something quite as enduring as Monkey Island, that still has people talking about it all these years later.
