Words begone!

Via book blogger and LAist contributor Callie Miller, here’s a list of “Banished Words” for 2008, as compiled by Lake Superior State University (LSSU). They’ve selected words and expressions that have been so overused that, while they may not necessarily need to be retired permanently, they should take a nice long vacation until they’re missed and would actually be welcome again; for example, “truthiness” has been reclaimed for 2008 after banishment for 2007.

LSSU accepts nominations for the banished-words list throughout the year. To submit your nomination for the 2008 list, go to http://www.lssu.edu/banished/submit_word.php

While I don’t agree that every term on this year’s list belongs there, I think anything that encourages more thoughtful word choice is a public service. Context and cliché are what make a particular expression a candidate for banishment, and the perpetrators are most likely to be TV and internet pundits in a wide assortment of fields. Here’s the list, with definitions as appropriate and quotes to illustrate just why the term needs to go away:

PERFECT STORM – “Overused by the pundits on evening TV shows to mean just about any coincidence.” – Lynn Allen, Warren, Michigan.

WEBINAR – A seminar on the web about any number of topics. “Yet another non-word trying to worm its way into the English language due to the Internet. It belongs in the same school of non-thought that brought us e-anything and i-anything.” – Scott Lassiter, Houston, Texas.

WATERBOARDING – “Let’s banish ‘waterboarding’ to the beach, where it belongs with boogie boards and surfboards.” – Patrick K. Egan, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

ORGANIC – Overused and misused to describe not only food, but computer products or human behavior, and often used when describing something as “natural,” says Crystal Giordano of Brooklyn, New York.

“The possibility of a food item being inorganic, i.e., not being composed of carbon atoms, is nil.” – John Gomila, New Orleans, Louisiana.

WORDSMITH/WORDSMITHING – Makes “writing” sound more crafty than necessary. “I’ve never read anything created by a wordsmith – or via wordsmithing – that was pleasant to read.” – Emily Kissane, St. Paul, Minnesota.

AUTHOR/AUTHORED – A cousin of the wordsmithing wordsmith, perhaps?

POST 9/11 – “‘Our post-9/11 world,’ is used now, and probably used more, than AD, BC, or Y2K, time references. You’d think the United States didn’t have jet fighters, nuclear bombs, and secret agents, let alone electricity, ‘pre-9/11.'” – Chazz Miner, Midland, Michigan.

SURGE – “‘Surge’ has become a reference to a military build-up. Give me the old days, when it referenced storms and electrical power.” – Michael F. Raczko, Swanton, Ohio.

GIVE BACK – “Various media have been featuring a large number of people who ‘just want to give back.’ Give back to whom? For what?” – Curtis Cooper, Hazel Park, Michigan.

‘BLANK’ is the new ‘BLANK’ or ‘X’ is the new ‘Y’ – “In spite of statements to the contrary, ‘Cold is (NOT) the new hot,’ nor is ’70 the new 50.’ The idea behind such comparisons was originally good, but we’ve all watched them spiral out of reasonable uses into ludicrous ones and it’s now time to banish them from use. Or, to phrase it another way, ‘Originally clever advertising is now the new absurdity!'” – Lawrence Mickel, Coventry, Connecticut.

BLACK FRIDAY – Just stay out of the stores on the day after Thanksgiving, and let’s not talk about it anymore.

BACK IN THE DAY – Which day? This one’s bugged me for years – didn’t it used to be “back in my day”? Did someone decide that sounded too old or something? “This one might’ve already made the list back in the day, which was a Wednesday, I think.” – Tim Bradley, Los Angeles, California.

RANDOM – Popular with teenagers in many places (and of many ages), and I think I take exception to this one on behalf of my blog’s title. “Over-used and usually out of context, i.e. ‘You are so random!’ Really? Random is supposed to mean ‘by chance.’ So what I said was by chance, and not by choice?” – Gabriel Brandel, Farmington Hills, Michigan.

SWEET – “Youth lingo overuse, similar to ‘awesome.’ I became sick of this one immediately.” – Gordon Johnson, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

DECIMATE – Word-watchers have been calling for the annihilation of this one for several years.

“Used today in reference to widespread destruction or devastation. If you will not banish this word, I ask that its use be ‘decimated’ (reduced by one-tenth).” – Allan Dregseth, Fargo, North Dakota.

“The word is so overused and misused, people use it when they should be saying ‘annihilate.’ It’s so bad that now there are two definitions, the real one and the one that has taken over like a weed. – Dane, Flowery Branch, Georgia.

“‘Decimate’ has been turned upside down. It means ‘to destroy one tenth,’ but people are using it to mean ‘to destroy nine tenths.’ – David Welch, Venice, Florida.

EMOTIONAL – “Reporters, short on vocabulary, often describe a scene as ’emotional.’ Well sure, but which emotion? For a radio reporter to gravely announce, ‘There was an emotional send off to Joe Blow’ tells me nothing, other than the reporter perceived that the participants acted in an emotional way. For instance: I had an emotional day today. I started out feeling tired and a bit grumpy until I had my coffee. I was distraught over a cat killing a bird on the other side of the street. I was bemused by my reaction to the way nature works. I was intrigued this evening to add a word or two to your suggestions. I was happy to see the words that others had posted. Gosh, this has been an emotional day for me.” – Brendan Kennedy, Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada.

POP – “On every single one of the 45,000 decorating shows on cable TV (of which I watch many) there is at LEAST one obligatory use of a phrase such as … ‘the addition of the red really makes it POP.’ You know when it’s coming … you mouth it along with the decorator. There must be some other way of describing the addition of an interesting detail.” – Barbara, Arlington, Texas.

IT IS WHAT IT IS – “This pointless phrase, uttered initially by athletes on the losing side of a contest, is making its way into general use. It accomplishes the dual feat of adding nothing to the conversation while also being phonetically and thematically redundant.” – Jeffrey Skrenes, St. Paul, Minnesota.

“Only Yogi Berra should be allowed to utter such a circumlocution.” – Jerry Holloway, Belcamp, Maryland.

“This is migrating from primetime ‘reality television’ and embedding itself into otherwise articulate persons’ vocabularies. Of course it is what it is…Otherwise, it wouldn’t be what it would have been!” – Steve Olsen, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.

UNDER THE BUS – “For overuse. I frequently hear this in the cliché-filled sports world, where it’s used to describe misplaced blame – i.e. ‘After Sunday’s loss, the fans threw T.O. under the bus.” – Mark R. Hinkston, Racine, Wisconsin.

“Please, just ‘blame’ them.” – Mike Lekan, Kettering, Ohio.

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5 comments

  1. Literary Feline – I think you’re right that some of these expressions aren’t all that new. I guess they’ve just reached the point where people are getting sick of them.

    Working Girl – Nice one! (snicker)

    I think “under the bus” might belong on The Sports Cliche List. I’ve heard it from my son. I guess people get thrown “under the bus” instead of “to the wolves” these days.

  2. What does “waterboarding” refer to except a particularly nasty form of torture used by Americans upon people held at Guantanemo? Has it entered colloquial speech with a different meaning?

  3. MaryP – Not to my knowledge. It seems to have become a catchall term for torture in general, though, and really got a workout during the recent Attorney General confirmation hearings. I don’t personally know anyone who works it into daily conversation, though…