List of Words to Be Banished from the Queens English for Mis-use, Over-use

[Mudcat]

. . . and General Uselessness

I was talking about this in the delightful Random Thoughts thread but I think maybe this deserves its own thread. Michigans Lake Superior State University has been compiling an annual list for many years.

But those who just want to keep on saying the words or phrases that made the annual list can take heart . . . It doesnt really change the way people talk. After all, tweet and sexting made last years list. And other previously banished items have included carbon footprint (2008), LOL (2004) and state of the art (1993).

full article



Here are this year's choices:


Lake Superior State University's 2011 list of banished words:

Viral

Epic

Fail

Wow factor

A-ha moment

Backstory

BFF

Man up

Refudiate

Mamma grizzlies

The American people

I'm just sayin'

Facebook/Google as verbs

Live life to the fullest

 

[Mudcat]

I have to whole-heartedly agree with the selection of, I'm just sayin'. Enough of that.

I can't say I know what Mamma grizzlies is about.

 

[Oksana]

I can't say I know what Mamma grizzlies is about.

 

[roguejuror]

"social media" should be there

 

[Oksana]

Really though, how can 'live life to the fullest' be on there? That's been around forever. Now people get annoyed by it?

And refudiate is now the word of the year according to Oxford and made it to their dictionary. Who's going to mess with Oxford?!



"A made-up word most famously used by US politician Sarah Palin has been named the Oxford American Dictionary's word of the year for 2010.

During a TV appearance in July, Mrs Palin demanded that US President Barack Obama "refudiate" charges that the country's Tea Party movement is racist.

The word is believed to be a mixture of "refute" and "repudiate".

"Refudiate" triumphed over other words including "retweet", "vuvuzela", "bankster", a name for an evil banker, and "Gleek", a name for a fan of the TV show Glee.

In an announcement made on the Oxford University Press blog yesterday, editors said the entry would read: refudiate: verb used loosely to mean "reject": she called on them to refudiate the proposal to build a mosque. [origin — blend of refute and repudiate]

The dictionary's editors said the terms was the "unquestionable buzzword of 2010".

"From a strictly lexical interpretation of the different contexts in which Palin has used 'refudiate', we have concluded that neither 'refute' nor 'repudiate' seems consistently precise, and that 'refudiate' more or less stands on its own, suggesting a general sense of 'reject'," they wrote.

"Although Palin is likely to be forever branded with the coinage of 'refudiate', she is by no means the first person to speak or write it - just as Warren G. Harding was not the first to use the word normalcy when he ran his 1920 presidential campaign under the slogan 'A return to normalcy.'

But Harding was a political celebrity, as Palin is now, and his critics spared no ridicule for his supposedly ignorant mangling of the correct word "normality".

Other words on the shortlist were "webisode" (an original episode derived from a television series, made for online viewing), "Tea Party" and "nom nom" (an expression of delight when eating)."

 

[Mudcat]

Really though, how can 'live life to the fullest' be on there? That's been around forever. Now people get annoyed by it?

I'm with you. It may be a slightly dopey expression but it's not constantly in your face.

Personally I have no problem with backstory. It is not overused in my world. It is an absolutely necessary word in some discussions and I don't know of any alternative.



I agree with some of the choices - and I basically agree with the intent of the list - but these people need to CALM DOWN.

 

[vagabond]

Misuse and overuse are not hyphenated words.

 

[Bread]

It is what it is. True true.

 

[Mudcat]

Misuse and overuse are not hyphenated words.

By gawd you're right. If these guys are going to put out a snooty anal list like this, they should be more on top of their own game.

 

[Oksana]

I didn't even know 'normalcy' wasn't a proper word until I read that article. Wow.

 

[Matty]

Google has more than earned the right to its own verb. I don't want it to die.

 

[Mudcat]

I had to look up Mama Grizzlies. Along with refudiate, it's a shot at Sarah Palin.

Mama grizzly is a term that former U.S. vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin coined to refer to herself, then later applied to the female candidates she supported or endorsed in the 2010 U.S. midterm elections. The term implies that Palin believes the candidates will exhibit certain grizzly bear characteristics.

 

[Matty]

These guys should be banished from paying any more attention to Sarah Palin.

 

[roguejuror]

vagabond wins again.

 

[Matty]

"social media" should be there

And those self-referential "social media experts" - people who use so-called social media to talk about nothing but social media. Shut the fuck up! No one likes you! Go write Inception 2 or some shit!

 

[Archie]

"cool story bro"

very useless IMO

 

[Boner_18]

"Obscure college's only claim to fame"

BANISHED.

 

[Matty]

And those self-referential "social media experts" - people who use so-called social media to talk about nothing but social media. Shut the fuck up! No one likes you! Go write Inception 2 or some shit!

I just cracked myself up.