Lake Superior State University’s 44th Annual List Of Banished Words

Lake Superior State University’s 44th Annual List Of Banished Words

List Of Banished Words

The wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University have released LSSU’s 44th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.

Lake Superior State University: 12.31.2018

The wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University have released LSSU’s 44th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.

“We grapple, litigate, and then yeet irritating words and phrases gathered from the nominations and votes received during 2018,” said an LSSU-OTUS thought leader from the word-banishment wheelhouse. “It’s the most important election of our time.”

LSSU’s word banishment tradition is now in its fifth decade, and was started by the late W. T. Rabe, a public relations director at Lake Superior State University.

For every new year since 1976, LSSU — also known for premier programs in nursing, engineering, robotics, and Great Lakes freshwater research —has issued this list, firmly tongue in cheek.

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Through the years, LSSU has received tens of thousands of nominations for the list, which now includes more than 1,000 entries. This year’s list is culled from nominations that come mostly through a university web site at lssu.edu/banished and a word banishment page on Facebook. Word-watchers target pet peeves from everyday speech, as well as from the news, fields of education, technology, advertising, politics and more.

And now, the 2019 list:

Wheelhouse, as in area of expertise

In the books, as in finished or concluded

Wrap my head around, “Impossible to do and makes no sense.”

Platform, “People use it as an excuse to rant.

Collusion, as in two or more parties limiting competition by deception

OTUS, family of acronyms such as POTUS, FLOTUS, SCOTUS

Ghosting, “Somebody doesn’t want to talk with you.

Yeet, as in to vigorously throw or toss

Litigate, “Originally meant to take a claim or dispute to a law court . . . appropriated by politicians and journalists for any matter of controversy in the public sphere.”

Grapple, “People who struggle with ideas and issues now grapple with them.

Eschew, “Nobody ever actually says this word out loud, they just write it for filler.”

Crusty, “This has become a popular insult.

Optics, “The trendy way to say ‘appearance’.”

Legally drunk, “You’re a little tipsy, that’s all. That’s legally drunk.

Thought Leader, “Thoughts aren’t ranked or scored.

Importantly, “Totally unnecessary when ‘important’ is sufficient.

Accoutrements, “Hard to spell, not specific, and anachronistic when ‘accessories’ will do.”

Most important election of our time, “Not that we haven’t had six or seven back-to-back most important elections of our time.”  READ MORE >>

The History of Word Banishment

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Banished Word List Archive

Complete List of Banished Words