Sweet, my favorite trick finally got brought up as a potential problem.

I think that the safest way around it is to counter with the same tactic. Do what they did, but better. No one ever said that trash talk has to be words spoken by the character.

Personally, I think uou'll look kind of silly if you quote a piece of trash talk that's disguised as a scene description. I wouldn't try it unless I'm feeling like a total bad ass. I'm not saying it's impossible to do, but don't be surprised if you fall into your opponent's trap and they tear into you about it.