The salesman certainly is setting the "bar" a bit high perhaps.

IMHO, calling a given cartridge a "minimum" for some use is NOT speaking negatively of that cartridge at all. It simply says that THAT cartridge if good for that use and below that one considers it unsatisfactory.... someone saying a 338WinMag is the minimum for elk is NOT slamming the 338WinMag.

Real life example:

I've seen some folks get upset that we have a rule in our elk camp that "30-06 power/penetration" is our elk camp minimum. We are NOT saying, in this example, that 30-06 is a poor cartridge for that use --- not at all, I think the 30-06 is a grand old cartridge and the "king" of the cross over rifles --- we ARE saying that going below a 30-06 is not welcome.

It is the ones just below them that need to be jumping up and down. Sorry, I just can't give every cartridge in the Reloading book an A+, I'm just not that PC, kinda like some schools that don't give out letter grades because little Johnny might get his feelings hurt.