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LSSU Releases Banished Words for 2001
Lake Superior State University ^
| Dec 2001
| LSSU
Posted on 12/06/2001 3:27:28 AM PST by visagoth
LSSU Releases Banished Words for 2001
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - Word Banishment moves into its 26th year at Lake Superior State University with the release of its annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness. And what a strange trip it's been since 1976. Just when the language survived millennium hoopla and Y2K disintegration, along came the American election of 2000.
Not surprisingly, 'chad' goes over the top as this year's most-nominated word. It "connotes the effect of contemptible and condemnable chicanery: mass confusion, consternation, and collusion," remarks Lake Superior State University Provost Don McCrimmon.
Kate Rabe Forgach, an editor at the Fort Collins Coloradoan, whose father Wilmer T. Rabe originated the List a quarter-century ago, laments that political commentators in Florida noted with straight faces that, "pregnant did not count . . . only complete insertion did the trick."
"We've heard it twelve times an hour on the news," says Anchorage, Alaska native Mike Warner. "Chad has gotta go."
So be it!
Chad was among hundreds of entries garnered from all over the world by mail and through the Internet. LSSU forms a committee in December to review the year's entries and decide which of them will be included on the list. Word-watchers pull nominations from everyday speech, as well as from the news, sports reports, and from fields of education, technology, advertising, politics and more.
The complete 2001 list follows:
Politics as Usual
Mumblings from the World of Sports
Business Babble
Media Mayhem
Just Plain Sloppy
Dale Hugo of Arlington Heights, Illinois, sent in a late nomination along with a poem entitled "Language Losses." He sums up the frustration felt by many of those who send nominations to LSSU:
Lake Superior State University is Michigan's smallest public university with an enrollment of just over 3000 students. It is known for its academic programs such as fisheries and wildlife management, engineering, teacher education, geology, business management, and criminal justice. For admissions information, go to LSSU's web site: http://www.lssu.edu. LSSU accepts nominations for the Word Banishment list throughout the year, and a committee sifts through the submissions in December. This year's committee included LSSU Public Relations staffers Tom Pink and John Shibley, as well as Lance Rivers, Ph.D., assistant professor of English. To submit your nomination, go to http://www.lssu.edu/banished.
TOPICS: Announcements; Front Page News; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS:
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Please add your own words to be banished at
this link .
My choice, although not a word, is: "At the end of the day...."
1
posted on
12/06/2001 3:27:28 AM PST
by
visagoth
To: visagoth
POLITICS - Getting on with the work of the people...
To: visagoth
Mine is "gone missing" which the news readers apparently have borrowed from the Brits.
What the heck was wrong with "lost"?
3
posted on
12/06/2001 3:41:36 AM PST
by
JimVT
To: riley1992
Good read...
4
posted on
12/06/2001 3:56:52 AM PST
by
dakine
To: dakine
Can we add " good to go ", " basically ", and " 24-7 "
To: dakine
They do this list on WJR every year. I always love hearing it.
"HAVE A GOOD ONE!" Hahaha
6
posted on
12/06/2001 4:16:28 AM PST
by
riley1992
To: All
Gore Won!
7
posted on
12/06/2001 4:25:53 AM PST
by
Jambe
To: visagoth
FALSE START PRIOR TO THE SNAP - Redundant usage . . . 10-yard penalty. "If it is a false start, it would inherently be prior to the snap of a football, before the action starts," mentions Sue Golbiw of Royal Oak, Michigan., I think Sue Golbiw should be banned, and penalized 15 yards for making an idiotically incorrect insinuation....
It's False start......MOTION/MOVING...Prior to the Snap..
Charge, and explanation, for idiots like Sue that just don't get it anyway...
Along with two Clinton Terms, further Proof that Breasts and Brains just don't mix.(excepting FR women of course!)
8
posted on
12/06/2001 4:32:25 AM PST
by
hobbes1
To: hobbes1
excepting FR women of course! ..nice save...
9
posted on
12/06/2001 4:40:01 AM PST
by
xsmommy
To: visagoth
My vote is for Unclear. It is used (and overused) to avoid having to say "I don't know".
10
posted on
12/06/2001 4:42:56 AM PST
by
6ppc
To: visagoth
DINGELL-NORWOOD!
11
posted on
12/06/2001 4:45:19 AM PST
by
commish
To: visagoth
How about "loose" in on-line forums when "lose" is meant. I see that misusage frequently; it is a pet peeve of mine.
To: FreedomPoster
I share your annoyance, but the word is not really overused, just misspelled.
13
posted on
12/06/2001 4:56:31 AM PST
by
6ppc
To: visagoth
FUZZY MATH - Gets a four-year term limit. Unleashed during a presidential debate, this sound bite could live again sound bite = a brief recorded statement (as by a public figure) broadcast especially on a television news program; also : a brief catchy comment suitable for use as a sound bite
Why not just say "catchy comment," "attention-getting noun," "buzzword," "catchphrase," or, simply, "phrase?"
14
posted on
12/06/2001 5:08:39 AM PST
by
heleny
To: visagoth
I still can't believe it didn't make last year OR this year, but
gravitas should definitely be on that list.
Other candidates:
Whassaaaap?!? - I wish I had the ability to send a biting electrical charge across the line to the next person who says this to me.
Religious right - unless you're talking about the Bill of Rights, keep your buzzword to yourself.
Stimulus - can we bring the word bailout back please?
(Social Security) lock box - That box hasn't been locked in a long time...and never will be.
Crackdown - This list is a crackdown on over-used words like....well, crackdown.
That's all I could think of after five minutes of surfing CNN.com
To: visagoth
POLITICS - A(n) __________ CRISIS...
To: hobbes1
Also, "False start" is five-yard penalty, not ten yards as she said.
To: danneskjold
POLITICS: ______GATE.
Every time a politician is involved in ANYTHING, it suddenly becomes a ____________GATE.
To: visagoth
One of my favorites: "That is SOOOO last year!"
To: visagoth
I work for a large corporation, so my betes noires are many:
- impact (when used as a verb)
- solution (when used as a verb) "to solution a design"
- extremist
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