Like any word geek, I always enjoy a good round-up of words and catch phrases that have overstayed their welcome, and was delighted when a friend sent me a link to the website of Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan:
Word “czars” at Lake Superior State University “unfriended” 15 words and phrases and declared them “shovel-ready” for inclusion on the university’s 35th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.
“The list this year is a ‘teachable moment’ conducted free of ‘tweets,’” said a Word Banishment spokesman who was “chillaxin’” for the holidays. “‘In these economic times’, purging our language of ‘toxic assets’ is a ‘stimulus’ effort that’s ‘too big to fail.’”
Former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and friends created “word banishment” in 1975 at a New Year’s Eve party and released the first list on New Year’s Day. Since then, LSSU has received tens of thousands of nominations for the list, which includes words and phrases from marketing, media, education, technology and more. (Full list here)
I confess, I have a word of my own to contribute. I was recently interviewed for an industry magazine, and discovered–on reading the published article–that I overuse the word “really” as a modifier. Things were “not really difficult” or “really exciting” and I was “really committed”, etc. I lamented to Pilgrim Soul that I sounded like a Valley Girl. So I am taking my cue from the students at LSSU, and am starting 2010 by banishing”really” from my vocabulary, for reasons of Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness.
Anyone want to join me in a resolution? Or suggest words/phrases for the list?
Most of those words don’t annoy me too much, but I do give them credit for ‘teachable moment’.
My opinion: ‘Hero’ needs to be taken down a notch and reserved for special situations. ‘Passion’ and ‘passionate’ should die. ‘Money’ as an adjective for ‘great’ rubs the leftie in me the wrong way too.
I’m also trying to raise my level of everyday English. In academic writing, I’m reasonably good at finding the right word and avoiding cliches, but I find that I’m often lazy and uninventive in normal speech (and informal writing like this). There are so many good words, I feel like I should make more of an effort to take advantage of them. I know some people who speak well all the time (and manage not to sound like pretentious asses at the same time), and would like to be more like that. That being said, I do have a real appreciation for the occasional use of low registers.
Also, in the category of ‘general uselessness’, a teacher once told me to be wary of ‘vivid’, ‘very’ and ‘effective’ in written work, as they usually have no meaning whatsoever. She was right.
Passionate.
Because apparently, in the workplace, when people are fighting, they are “passionate about their work”.
In media: “Popular opinion…” I always find myself asking in my head who’s fucking opinion are they asking? How many people are in this “popular” group and are they the exact same people everyone runs to?
“Shocking.” It always seems to be followed by something that I don’t find shocking and then I get annoyed that I stuck around to listen.
In conversations especially among the Tweens: “Like” seems to be used alot and often. It really makes the speaker seems stupid.
In my own speech I’ve caught myself saying, “Your so…” and then never finishing. Usually I seem to use this phrase when I’m pissed off at someone or annoyed. I think that it’s my personal way of avoiding saying exactly what I want to really say. Personal resolution of my own this year is if I feel the need to use that phrase I’ll actually finish the sentence so that way the person listening has NO question to what I was alluding to.
Example: “Your so not fucking listening. I said no let’s not swap numbers.”
I tend to pick an adjective and overuse it terribly for three months before I listen to myself and stop. It drives me insane, but I’m not sure how to break the habit.
Amusingly, at a recent dinner party, a 14 year old guest told my husband (somewhat self-righteously) that he shouldn’t use words he couldn’t spell (Yes, he had challenged my husband to spell the word in question first). Trying to explain to the boy why that’s a fine thing for a high school English teacher to say to a teenager, but that it doesn’t necessarily apply to an adult with a doctorate and a learning disability was challenging.
The number of the words on the list that are applicable to extremely current technologies (mostly social networking) makes me wonder if the judges are all slightly-Luddite older people though.
In conversations where I’m trying to find my footing, I’ve been known to insert ‘you know’ way too often.
I want to stop saying “in terms of” so much. It’s not that I am constantly solving algebra problems. I don’t think it’s overused by others, though.
@Av0gadro – I do the same thing, but with every part of speech. Right now it’s “a priori”. Why? I have no idea. But somehow it pops up in every 5th sentence I utter.
I say “excellent” way too much. Particularly when I’m working.
Also, “making love” is my least favorite expression pretty much ever. It squicks me out.
Mega-ditto on “hero,” Endora. That drives me completely crackers.
The word I forbid my students from using is “interesting.” Meaningless. The only time I use it is when I don’t have anything nicer to say. “Yes, we were talking about your band! Sounds interesting!” :/
@PhDork: That’s really interesting.
Vegkitty-
I am also squicked out by “making love”. Thought I was the only one on the planet!
“Making love” squicks me out too…it’s just so lounge-lizard-y. I never read it without imagining someone saying it in a Barry White voice: “Makin’ luuuuv, baybee…”
This reminds me of the old Life in Hell comic–every year Matt Groening would make a list of “Forbidden Words”–a quick search yielded a “best of” for the last 10 years:
http://beetnik.org/page/221/Forbiddenwords19962005
@PhDork: oh yeah, ‘interesting’. That was banned too (there was actually a list of Words To Be Avoided, which I’d really like to find again). I use it just like you, when I can’t think of anything else.
@thelady: that list is awesome. So many words on there I hate. (“Phat”, “buttocks”…)
@ rodriguez, I second that one. And it’s one I’m trying to personally banish from use, except when writing in an academic tone, and then only when really necessary.
Another word I am also banishing from my vocabulary is “awesome”. I also think it gets overused too much, almost to the point where it could be replaced with the word “f&*k” here in Sydney, Australia, to be used in a variety of contexts from sarcasm, anger, happiness, etc.
I guess I’m with the original commenter who cringed on ‘at the end of the day’. At the end of day, its time for TV and bed, not some cosmic summation of events. They’ll still be there ‘at the start of the next day’.
@Ronnie: I’ll see you “at the end of the day” and add the related, and even more annoying phrase “back in the day.”
I’ve come to realize, mostly during Skype chats with The Boyfriend (thankfully, we won’t be long-distance very much longer!) that I’ve somehow acquired the disturbing habit of starting sentences with “I mean,” even when I’m starting an entirely new topic! Ugh. That needs to be fixed. And much like Av0gadro, I too have a tendency to pick up tic-words, chiefly interjections of frustration, and a surprisingly large number of those are foreign profanities.
I actually submitted one to the LSSU list this year (as a massive word geek/linguistics major, I’ve been following it for years) that didn’t get chosen, “saga.” When a word that originally meant mythic tales of Norse gods and heroes gets used to describe Twilight and the Tiger Woods scandal, it’s time to put on the brakes.
And for the love of all that is holy, “cute!” I’ve already excised it from my own vocabulary years ago (I never say it unless I’m reading aloud and absolutely cannot avoid it, and it does actually make me shudder a bit to type it) It’s just overused to the point of utter absurdity, and it’s always leveled at me whenever I’m out with The Boyfriend or I have a new haircut—it’s so incredibly patronizing and always makes me feel like the person who’s calling me that is treating me like I’m five years old and therefore doesn’t care a whit about what I’m saying. Argh.
I use the word “whalers” way too much. It has to stop.
@Imaginary: One of the best typos I ever came across in reading fanfic is a mid-coitus reference to someone wailing…spelled “he whaled in ecstasy.” Brilliant.