ctivnan
01/15/08, 07:46 AM
BAN THOSE WORDS IN '08
- Jeff Karoub
DETROIT (AP) - Resist the urge to say you will "wordsmith" your list of New Year's resolutions rather than write one. And don't utter, "It is what it is" when you fail to meet your first goal.
Those are two of the 19 words or phrases that appear in Lake Superior State University's annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use, and General Uselessness.
The school in Michigan's Upper Peninsula released its 3rd list recently, selecting from about 2,000 nominations.
Among this year's picks are "surge," the term for the troop buildup in Iraq.
"Give me the old days, when it referenced storms and electrical power," Michael Rackzo of Swanton, Ohio, said in nominating the word.
A list also included "waterboarding," "perfect storm," "under the bus," and "organic."
Also: "It is what it is," which Jeffrey Skrenes of St. Paul, Minn. said, "accomplishes the dual feat of adding nothing to the conversation while also being phonetically and thematically redundant."
Sadly for grammar's guardians, the lighthearted list isn't binding, as evidenced by the continued use of past banned words and phrases, such as "erectile dysfunction," "i-anything," and "awesome."
Still university spokesman Tom Pink, part of a committee that evaluates submissions, takes his syntactic success where he can find it.
His office once received a letter from an Arizona Supreme Court justice who said he posted that year's list on a bulletin board and prohibited all attorneys from using those words.
WHAT NOT TO SAY IN 2008
Lake Superior State University's List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, OverUse, and General Uselessness for 2008 features a mix of words and phrases that range from military terminology that has gained popularity because of the terrorist attacks on 911 and the war on Iraq to common quips used in adolescent conversation.
Here now, in no particular order, are the words you should stop using this 2008.
- PERFECT STORM
- WATERBOARDING
- ORGANIC
- WORDSMITH/WORDSMITHING
- AUTHOR/AUTHORED
- POST 9/11
- SURGE
- GIVE BACK
- 'BLANK' is the new 'BLANK' or 'X' is the new 'Y'
- BLACK FRIDAY
- BACK IN THE DAY
- RANDOM
- SWEET
- DECIMATE
- EMOTIONAL
- POP
- IT IS WHAT IT IS
- UNDER THE BUS
- Jeff Karoub
DETROIT (AP) - Resist the urge to say you will "wordsmith" your list of New Year's resolutions rather than write one. And don't utter, "It is what it is" when you fail to meet your first goal.
Those are two of the 19 words or phrases that appear in Lake Superior State University's annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use, and General Uselessness.
The school in Michigan's Upper Peninsula released its 3rd list recently, selecting from about 2,000 nominations.
Among this year's picks are "surge," the term for the troop buildup in Iraq.
"Give me the old days, when it referenced storms and electrical power," Michael Rackzo of Swanton, Ohio, said in nominating the word.
A list also included "waterboarding," "perfect storm," "under the bus," and "organic."
Also: "It is what it is," which Jeffrey Skrenes of St. Paul, Minn. said, "accomplishes the dual feat of adding nothing to the conversation while also being phonetically and thematically redundant."
Sadly for grammar's guardians, the lighthearted list isn't binding, as evidenced by the continued use of past banned words and phrases, such as "erectile dysfunction," "i-anything," and "awesome."
Still university spokesman Tom Pink, part of a committee that evaluates submissions, takes his syntactic success where he can find it.
His office once received a letter from an Arizona Supreme Court justice who said he posted that year's list on a bulletin board and prohibited all attorneys from using those words.
WHAT NOT TO SAY IN 2008
Lake Superior State University's List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, OverUse, and General Uselessness for 2008 features a mix of words and phrases that range from military terminology that has gained popularity because of the terrorist attacks on 911 and the war on Iraq to common quips used in adolescent conversation.
Here now, in no particular order, are the words you should stop using this 2008.
- PERFECT STORM
- WATERBOARDING
- ORGANIC
- WORDSMITH/WORDSMITHING
- AUTHOR/AUTHORED
- POST 9/11
- SURGE
- GIVE BACK
- 'BLANK' is the new 'BLANK' or 'X' is the new 'Y'
- BLACK FRIDAY
- BACK IN THE DAY
- RANDOM
- SWEET
- DECIMATE
- EMOTIONAL
- POP
- IT IS WHAT IT IS
- UNDER THE BUS