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(It’s too bad about “under the bus” though — as in: “The committee botched the assignment so they threw their team captain under the bus.” The phrase was deliciously descriptive. Oh well, it is what it is.)
Is it me or is “default” a much used word these days? The reason I ask is because it’s become prominent in my own thinking, and so I was wondering if the whole country is really paralleling my spiritual journey or if I’m just abnormally sensitized to occurrences of the lexical item.
Specifically, I have in recent years had the epiphany (I wonder if “epiphany” has made the University’s past lists. We used to have realizations and discoveries before we started having epiphanies, didn’t we?) that I need to be aggressive about believing God’s Word, because if not, my default mode is not faith but unbelief. It’s like Isaiah said: “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all” (Isaiah 7:9).
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Identity theft
I’m puzzled at the banishment of “webinar” because it’s a real thing that has no other name, that I know of. To me, it’s analogous to banning the word “e-mail.” What are we supposed to do without it?
Some clichés become part of the language because they work. People know what you mean when you say “under the bus”. I don’t have time to learn a whole new set of catch phrases myself.
“Loitering?”
i’ve never heard “under the bus” before…
i like it, though………….
Do we listen to these people, or do we listen to the OED people?
I’m not suggesting that we use these banned phrases in business or correspondence or formal reports, but if these are the words that bother them, they’re a tad snobby with respect to every day talk, aren’t they?
Without reading the list, I say, “Throw it under the bus!”
(TomBob, I don’t know where you’ve been hangin’ out, man. I agree with you — under the bus is a neat expression.)
Joel Mark - I was thinking, “Loafing.”
They forgot “at the end of the day” as in “at the end of the day, it is what it is.”
I’m also quite fond of “It is what it is.” It’s another version of a quote by Jerry Weinberg that I love - “Things are the way they are because they got that way.” It sounds dumb until you think about it and it’s a very helpful and healthy concept.
(I’ve mentioned it here before, but will again - I highly recommend the book “Secrets of Consulting” by Gerald Weinberg. It’s a fun read full of tons of good advice.)
So what is the penalty for using these words and where can I get the whole list? I am ready to be a rebel.
Once I became orientated to this idea it became very impactful to me.
“sweet”.
i’m “all for” being a rebel.
we can “chill” outside their offices, “bro”.
This reminds me of the Academy of Spanish in Spain… They regulate the rules of their language “to a t”.
I was praising God only yesterday that we had no Academy of English…
maybe my celebration was premature.
*have no academy of english
d’oh!
Uggh, Adios, you had to bring up “orientated.” (I think people are starting with “orientation,” which is an actual word, and trying to apply it in other ways (?). Shouldn’t it just be “oriented”?)
Double uggh: now I’ve got “I could care less” on the brain. People don’t realize those words mean the exact opposite of what they’re trying to convey.
Triple uggh: “irregardless.” Same reasons.
OK, I’m going to stop now. I’ll just leave y’all with a conspiracy theory: I think this banned-words effort is an attempt by a cabal of forgotten faculty to remind the world that there is in fact a “Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.” I mean, really: how many of you know somebody who went there? I used to live near Lake Superior, and I’d never heard of the place.
Perhaps these words and phrases have “Jumped the Shark”?
You can trash that one, and I wouldn’t give a rip…
My favorite is “Where ever you go, there you are”.
How about “Nucular”?
MIM - “nucular” really REALLY bugs me!
It “literally” bugs me too.
You really don’t want to get my husband started on the nucular thing.
I’m an English major, and I will use whatever words (outside swearing of course) that I jolly well please. Now that’s “sweet”!
TomBob is a 19 y/o college student. If he hasn’t heard of “under the bus,” either the phrase or TomBob is dorky.
Knowing how amazingly hip he is, the fault must lie with the phrase. So, I say let’s kick “under the bus” to the curb!
Is anybody as tired of “cool” as I am? Seems like
it’s become the universal positive.
I’m glad “wicked” (as in “wicked good”) didn’t make it out of New England in the 80s.
klasko, Joel Mark
I was thinking ‘liberally lazy’.
Outdeep #8, “at the end of the day” was thrown out in about ‘04 or ‘05. Wish that one would *stay* thrown out.
Klasko,
I’m confused. I’m from New England, and I was using “wicked” long before the 80’s and the people I know who still live there still use it. Why would it have been in danger of spreading in the 80s?
One word I detest: “humankind.” “Man” used to be an acceptable generic. “Makind” or “humans” still are acceptable generics. “Humankind” is being redundant within a single word.
I also always change “utilize” to “use” when I edit.
I lived in MA from 1983-1987. That’s when I heard it. I had never heard it before, I assumed it must have been the current fad expression in use at the time. I also thought that it was destined to be an expression everywhere and not just in New England. It drove me nuts when I lived there because I heard it quite a lot.
I have not heard it much since, excpet by the occasional New Engalnder I have met in my travels. But then I have not been to New England except for short visits to my sister’s about a week at a time (first in RI and then again in MA). I was last there in March. I have not heard it in wide use since I stopped living there. I assumed that it’s time had passed in the 80s. (Except for Wicked Ale).
No, wicked’s been around longer than that, and I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon.
Those in Britain often refer to “a wicked sense of humor” - it’s used all the time.
2wire - 22
The phrase “that is so cool” is very old, I agree with you.
Here is one of the websites:
Lake Superior State University 2008 List of Banished Words
http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php
I’d like to banish “way” when used in place of “very.” As in “way cool,” “way bad.”
#34
that is not cool, dude.
like, uh, y’know, you’re way wrong.
Totally.
Is there any sign that the practice of using the word “awesome” every few sentences is dying out?
Right: God’s act of creation is awesome.
Right: I am awed at the vastness of the Grand Canyon.
Wrong: Oh boy! Chicken nuggets! Awesome!
#36
i am guilty of using “awesome” very often.
when “cool” just doesn’t cut it, awesome is my go-to word.
that and “amazing”.
Well, I’m glad to see we’re all on the same page.
In recent years past, has this list ever included banishing “SO” as used for emphasis, as in “I’m SO outta here”? That one is surely overdue.