Banned words

Lake Superior University first began publishing its “word banishment” list in 1976, with “At this point in time” and “detente” making the first list.

According to the LSSU Web site, the idea for a list was dreamed up at a 1975 New Year’s Eve party.

“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,” noted the LSSU release.

The 2009 list included “Green,” “Carbon footprint,” “Game changer,” and “Staycation.”

The 2010 Word Banishment List (with nomination comments)
SHOVEL-READY
"Do I really need a reason? Well, if so how about this: I just saw it in tandem with ‘cyber-ready’ and nearly choked on my coffee. It’s starting the ‘-ready’ jargon. Makes me ‘vacation-ready.’" – Karen Hill, Ann Arbor, Mich.

IN THESE ECONOMIC TIMES
"In this economy, we can’t afford to be wasteful…In this economy, we all need some security…In this economy, frogs could start falling from the sky…In this economy, blah blah blah… Overused for everything from trying to market products as inexpensive to simply explaining any and all behavior during the recession." – Mark, Milwaukee, Wisc.

STIMULUS
"Everything in the news is about the stimulus packages…it is no longer a grant, it’s stimulus money, stimulus checks, etc. I think it is just being over-used." Teri Heikkila, Rudyard, Mich.

TOXIC ASSETS
"Whatever happened to simply ‘bad stocks,’ ‘debts,’ or ‘loans’?" — Monty Heidenreich, Homewood, Ill.

TOO BIG TO FAIL
"Does such a thing exist? We’ll never know if a company is too big to fail, unless somehow it does fail, and then it will no longer be too big to fail. Make it stop!" – Holli, Raleigh, NC.

TRANSPARENT/TRANSPARENCY
"I just don’t see it." – Joe Grimm, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

CZAR
"First it was a ‘drug czar’ [banished in 1990]. This year gave us a ‘car czar.’ What’s next? A ‘banished words czar’?" — Michael F. Raczko, Swanton, Ohio.

TWEET
And all of its variations … tweetaholic, retweet, twitterhea, twitterature, twittersphere …
"People tweet and retweet and I just heard the word ‘tweet’ so many times it lost all meaning.” – Ricardo, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.

APP
"Must we b sbjct to yt another abrv? Why does the English language have to fit on a two-inch screen? I hate the sound of it. I think I’ll listen to a symph on the rad." — Edward R. Bolt, Grand Rapids, Mich.

SEXTING
Sending sexually explicit pictures and text messages through the cell phone.
"Any dangerous new trend that also happens to have a clever mash-up of words, involves teens, and gets television talk show hosts interested must be banished." – Ishmael Daro, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada.

FRIEND AS A VERB
Came into popularity through social networking websites. You add someone to your network by "friending" them, or remove them by "unfriending" them.
"’Befriend’ is much more pleasant to the human ear and a perfectly useful word in the dictionary." – Kevin K., Morris, Okla.

TEACHABLE MOMENT
"If everything’s a ‘teachable moment,’ we should all have teaching credentials, including the guy at the bar who likes to fight after one shot too many." – Kuahmel Allah, Los Angeles, Calif.

BROMANCE
"Have we really reached the point where being friends has to be described in a pseudo-romantic context? Just stop it already!" — Greg Zagorski, Washington, D.C.

CHILLAXIN’
Nominated for several years. We couldn’t chill about it anymore.
"Heard everywhere from MTV to ESPN to CNN. A bothersome term that seeks to combine chillin’ with relaxin’ makes me want to be ‘axin’ this word." – Tammy, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

OBAMA-prefix or roots?
The LSSU Word Banishment Committee held out hope that folks would want to Obama-ban Obama-structions, but were surprised that no one Obama-nominated any, such as these compiled by the Oxford Dictionary in 2009: Obamanomics, Obamanation, Obamafication, Obamacare, Obamalicious, Obamaland … We say Obamanough already.