Posted on 01/02/2011 6:47:58 AM PST by speciallybland
This story might be epic, and could even go viral, but not if Lake Superior State University has anything to do with it. Just sayin.'
The small college in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, released on Friday its annual list of "banished words" -- terms so overused, misused and hackneyed they deserve to be sent to a permanent linguistic trash can in the year ahead.
"Viral," often used to describe the rapid spreading of videos or other content over the Internet, leads the list for 2011.
"This linguistic disease of a term must be quarantined," Kuahmel Allah of Los Angeles said in making a nomination.
Runners-up included "epic" and "fail," often twinned to describe a blunder of monumental proportions.
A total of 14 words were on the list.
Cliched terms such as "wow factor," "a-ha moment," "back story" and "BFF" (Best Friends Forever) rated highly. The very au courant use of "Facebook" and "Google" as verbs got a thumbs down as well.
As usual, election-cycle zingers and catchwords quickly look as worn out as last year's campaign posters.
In that vein, voters suggested the banning of "Mama Grizzlies," used to describe right-wing female politicians in the mold of Sarah Palin, and "man up," famously used by Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharon Angle in a testy debate with Democrat Harry Reid and a favorite Palin expression as well.
"A stupid phrase when directed at men. Even more stupid when directed at a woman, as in 'Alexis, you need to man up and join that Pilates class!'" said Sherry Edwards of Clarkston, Michigan.
Previous winners and nominees include the terms "shovel ready" for 2010, "battleground states" for 2005, "24/7" for 2000 and "family values" for 1995.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I think the phrase “hope-and-change” has effectively gone into the trash heap...
and i am tired of "multicultural..." or anything culture... business culture, counter culture, cross culture... street culture... culture no longer means "to cultivate."
Whatever.....:\
These are the little word pet peeves that I stroke and nurture. Ha!
Worst is the 17 year old palilogy of the use of “real” in advertising. “Real this. Real that. Real overused.”
“Comprehensive”
“At the end of the day”
“Look” - always put before a statement (Rove/Hannity do it constantly.)
Misuse/overuse of word “literally” by jouralists (”Ya know, like, they literally misuse it, like, a million times - literally.”)
“Could care less” (Really? How much less could he care?)
“Irregardless”
“Cheers!” (As a salutation by Americans in emails or posts)
The kind of people who ban words are the kind of people who will eventually ban and burn books.
For me the absolute worst is “decadent.” Unless we’re talking about late-19th century poets, the word “decadent” should be struck from the English language. We have taught a generation of children that “decadent” means “really yummy.”
I think maybe Rachel Ray (who I never watch) started with sammich, and now it has evolved into the even more revolting sammy. If you are 3, it’s sorta cute. If you are over 5 it’s stupid and makes you sound like you don’t want to be a grown up (which now that I think about probably means you vote democrat!) :)
Excellent. Of course, the problem is most people have a difficult time really thinking.
And I always think it sounds dumb (not that you can’t use it to your hearts content, and not that I think YOU are dumb. It just grates on me—altho not as much as “gooberment”) That’s why I think these lists are silly. One person’s list of words that should be banned are another person’s list of good describers (and that is likely not a good word! LOL)
I thought it meant chocolate...
I vote for “anal” when the words neat, particular, fastidious, obsessive, or persnickety would be appropriate.
The word means "happy", liberals be damned.
They can’t be series.
If so, this is hugh.
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