Lake Superior State Universary has published its 40th Annual List of Banished words, “Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.”
Considering what an awful year it’s been for language, not to mention humanity itself, it is a short and vastly incomplete list, compiled from nominations received via the university’s website.
Here we go:
Bae
Polar Vortex
Hack
Skill Set
Swag
Foodie
Curate/Curated
Friend-Raising
Cra-Cra
Enhanced Interrogation
Takeaway
-Nation
I’m going to say meh to this list, even though most people might include meh on their own list. I’m also going to complain about the spelling of cray-cray.
Takeaway is a good choice. Bae, though, I’m really conflicted about, since it’s so stupid that I hear it as tongue-in-cheek even if it’s used with sincerity. I enjoy it in a perverse way, like when I hear someone say ‘conversate.’
So let’s get to the shit they overlooked. Just off the top of my head:
Unpack, used to mean find out more about the subject. I hate this. It’s the new ‘Drill-down.’
Folks, as in ‘Yes, we did torture some folks.’ Enough of folks, for fucksake! Let’s just say ‘people’ like we used to!
Bro– as a suffix. Brogrammers, Brodouches, we get it, now let it go.
Let it go is a prompt I never, ever want to hear again, ever, unless I’m holding on to a butterfly or something.
A Red Lip as in ‘wear with simple jewelry and a red lip.’ God, why?? Say ‘red lipstick’ unless you want to die.
Okay, I’m going to stop now before I get too worked up.
What about you, bae? What words and phrases need to be banned for 2015?
I’m trying to think of something edgy to say… Something with pop.
Andy – Well hurry it up, I don’t have all day.
Start-up !
Ladybaby – meaning a baby of the femal sex. The term is so off-putting and needs to go away.
Addicting – this was never and still is not a real word. The word is “addictive” for crying out loud.
Littles – so twee, much annoying.
M – Ladybaby?!?! Terrible and nauseating.
“Congrats.” How f***king hard is it to just spell out the whole damn word? Facebook is awash with “congrats” and it drives me insane.
KIDDO. Unfortunately, it seems you cannot have a child and be on the internet without referring to it as a ‘kiddo’ so I guess I’ll just deal with it BUT I HATE IT SO MUCH.
Democrat
Obama
Jackson
Sharpton
Race
. . . . . . Eh? What? What did I say . . . ?
Sunnies, selfies, sammies, babybump, totes, conscious uncoupling, combining a couples names into one word to identify them.
Well, as usual I am totally out of the loop. I’ve never heard of any of these “words” or said any of them except takeaway.
It’s what we Aussies call the shops where you get your hamburgers and pizzas, etc.
We go to the takeaway. I think you call it a takeout.
If I ever hear anybody say ladybaby I think I’d throw up.
Ladybaby has me so completely stunned that I can’t think of my own personal hate words. Really??? People use that?? It’s unbelievably wrong.
I have to come back to this when the disgust wears off.
Peak- anything. Peak-hipster/peak-beard/peak-internet. Urgh.
People using any noun as a verb and vice versa makes my skin crawl. I particularly hate “This is my make….” for something that was made, and “Here is my ask” meaning here’s my question. I actually heard that last one used on a public radio station where I thought people might actually know better.
I still stand by my tried-and-true method of avoidance. I pay no attention to buzz words and trendy phrases. Therefore, I’ve only encountered some of these little gems used by the ignorant masses.
I have, however, repeatedly encountered “red lip”. I truly do not understand it. To which lip are people referring? Shall I assume they only have one lip? Last I checked, our mouths included two lips. “Red lips” certainly makes more sense – also, as you stated, “red lipstick”.
Oh God.
Ladybaby? Really, I mean, really?? And “Here is my ask”?? I swear that’s a line from the movie Amistad.
The noun-verb swapping is truly reprehensible, I agree. Has anybody taken “let’s have an eat” for “let’s have lunch/dinner/snack”? If not, I’d like to claim it as a suitably stupid and irritating enough word-fuck to get started and officially banned, all at once, right here, and go ahead and get it over with. There – nipped that in the bud. You’re welcome.
Sister Wolf, please give us more write.
“effortlessly stylish”
It is never without effort, and is rarely stylish.
Like the the “no makeup, makeup” look.
It takes a lot of makeup to look like you arent wearing any.
“Reach-out” as in contact someone
What exactly is a ladybaby?
I cannot stand the word furbaby. It’s a dog or cat.
I have heard and hated Ironical. ?
Happy New Year. How is your new place?
I’ve been worried about the Lesbian stick.
I hope you still have it.
Another Mary – Selfies is such a scourge, the concept and the word. It’s like the end of civilization.
Suspended – I understand. Anything with lady as the prefix is enraging.
ellio – Ew, I haven’t heard that. I’ll brace myself.
Bonnie – YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hate!
Bevitron – Your comment was a good read. xo
Kellie – Hate.
Kristy – The worst. I think I complained about that one last year. make it stop.
daisy – Ironical instead of ironic is an affectation, right? I LOVE the house so much, thank you!
Andra – Got it, in the living room.
Thank the gods …. about the Lesbian stick, I mean.
I have been spending an inordinate amount of time lately worrying about stupid names for people.
Why would you give a small child a really, really stupid name? One that they would have to spell every single time they said it for their entire lives?
Why would you do that?
The only reason I can come up with is because the parents are so insecure and feel so insignificant they have to come up with something important in their dumb, useless lives.
I’m not even going to mention these crazy names, it only depresses me a bit more.
Quick, another glass of Arrogant Frog.
Thrifting — this made-up verb alone has turned me off to shopping at thrift stores. Add it to the noun-verb category.
And didn’t you mean “Bro” used as a prefix (not suffix) up there?
No worries, bra, you were probably in a hurry.
Andra – You have to tell us the name. Come on.
Sisty – I DID mean prefix but my brain transposed the words. I just took an online test for Alzheimer’s but then I saw that it didn’t come with a score thingie. What word do I mean by thingie??
Partake/partaking.
So tired of it.
-urban
-bistro
-analytics
-insta
-“on point”
-[ ] game
(as in SHOE game, on point!]
-and also the words, ninja, guru, and rockstar when used to describe a job position.
but I really like calling people BAE OF PIGS so this is where we differ.
Bonnie-
I am so thankful I surround myself with only 7 people in my daily life and none of them say “this is my make” or “this is my ask”
and apparently the people I follow on social media aren’t dumb enough to say these things either. which is surprising.
Sorry, sorry but here goes, wahaaayyy…
AT THE END OF THE DAY
TO BE FAIR
UNDER THE RADAR
NAIL IT
SEXED (up, or anything)
24/7
Strangely enough, I like AMAZEBALLS and have used it on occasion … smack me.
Here in Australia I think we have the worst baby naming people ….
Oh, you definitely meant “thingie” — everyone knows what that means. And do they have an old lady test thingie? I ask because I have no idea what BAE is.
what does bae mean? I have never heard of it before.
BabyDaddy! infuriates me, I don’t understand why it exists!
SICK Is probably so last year anyway, but no-one seems to be able to say it without sounding like they know it is faintly ridiculous. It always makes me cringe.
Thats it folks, except amazeballs. and any other infuriating words that people say.
VAPE
Anything that’s been “curated” but isn’t part of museum inventory. “I curated these shoes with these jeans.” AArrrgh!
Precursor to a yawn, “at the end of the day” or its even more annoying and aggressive, know-it-all, post-rant cousin, “end of.” “I just told her no. End of.”
I still hate the word Juxtaposition. It’s even more annoying that there’s a complete lack of replacements for it in the English language. Why?
Bang on trend, fashion forward, pop of colour – all completely wank! ( and still lingering from 2012.)
“Inking” instead of tattoo.
People in the UK who “thrift shop” or go “thrifting.” We have charity shops here…Arseholes!
Nom nom nom – It’s okay when Cookie Monster does it but anyone else, it reeks of repulsive, uncouth pigishness.
Yasss! – instead of Yes. Despite what you think, it doesn’t exude more positive affirmation.
Random & Literally – “that was literally sooo random.” You’re probably too dumb to learn the word Figuratively and that strangers aren’t Randoms, they’re strangers.
I’ve been hating a lot of these for a few years now…I could go on but I sound so angry…haha.
Anyway, glad to hear you and the lesbian stick are happy in your new home. Happy New Year, Sister Wolf xx
“nom nom” disgusts me as much as watching someone eat with their mouth open.
Bonnie made an excellent contribution.
Add “pant” to “red lip” and you’ll get a “timeless” and “perfect” pain in the ass.
Suspended – ‘Yasss’ always makes me think of a minstrel show. Who started that one? “end of.” is so enraging I can’t look at it without making a face. Anyone who uses that need to die.
Here’s a few …
Breklyn
Ffion
Jexsia
Jourdyne
Lyllei
Phynix
Qristyl
Rexella
………… why would you do this to a small baby?
Ridonkulus.
And using the word “quantum” in front of any nouns or verbs, ever. EVER. (Exceptions being words like physics, mechanics, or entanglement [I think], and then only if you’re a physicist or something, which means I must be punished, because I’m not.)
“feeling all the feels”
and when people say “hangs” ex: “park hangs later?”
Aesthetic , “I cant even”, and pastel. Also “blogger” if you only have a tumblr where you only repost images with thousands of notes. I have spent too much time on tumblr.
Thank you for folks, i mentioned that last year.
Passed, as in died.
Spot on.
Conversation.
Hero.
Thank you for your service.
Yessssss!
Baby daddy, baby mama..hideous.
Mom.
Terroire.
Twerk.
Could continue but twerk shut down my synapses…happy new year
As someone who was given a pretentious, difficult-to-spell-and-pronounce French name at birth (we are not French and I was born in Massachusetts) and then at 13 changed it to something less complicated, yes to this. Life is already difficult enough, do not make your child explain their own name every time they introduce themselves.
There are people who have actually named a child REXELLA?
getting ‘inked’. just say getting a tattoo, fuck.
‘squee!’ is so gross and twee, I hate it
when people describe themselves as ‘creatives’ or ‘makers’ it makes me rage. as if they’re really contributing anything useful to society beyond more ‘artisan’ bullshit
new submission:
diaphanous, confection
Ali in Australia, when people, things or ideas are too arrogant they get called wankers or wanky. Diaphanous and confection are true wanker words. When I imagine then being spoken I have a picture in my mind of the speaker simultaneously self abusing.
Beannie- the submission was inspired by Golden Globes hosts so you’re spot on!
adding another:
self-identify
“drop truth bombs”
Well this has got people wound up! Me too, and I am happy I am not alone in this. When people on Pinterest post a photo of some clothing or hair and comment “that dress” or “that hair” I feel rage deep inside.
No one mentioned the word random. Yes I have teenagers. I hate that word.
I was using Ladybaby 10 1/2 years ago, when I had one. Some people are so behind with their language. I think it’s cute.
I second ‘Literally’. ALWAYS used by people who have no idea. ie, ‘I literally laughed so hard my head fell off’. Really? Don’t tease me.