It's not a fault of the language, it's the culture. "Average" and "mediocre" both have negative connotations in vernacular use as well, even though they're norm

It's not a fault of the language, it's the culture. "Average" and "mediocre" both have negative connotations in vernacular use as well, even though they're normal and should be expected. If we expect excellence and world-shaking performance as the standard, good enough will not be good enough.