Lake Superior State University has just released its “2011 List of Banished Words.” Check it out here. It’s pretty good. I’m especially pleased that they included “Man up.”
But they left out so many awful words and terms, including one of my personal annoyances, “reach out to” as a synonym for “contact.” Or what about “no worries!” in place of “you’re welcome?” Didn’t that use to be Australian? Why do I need to have it in Los Angeles?
Here are some words I don’t want to see or hear in 2011:
Amazeballs
ridic
Margiela
Shearling
Kardashian
Iconic
Curated
Trending
In This Economy
Foursquare
Lanvin
Girl-Crush
Crazy – (anything)
Minaj
Which ones have I left out??
PP – YES!
Carrie – It’s not just you!!!!!!! It’s just you and me! xoxoxoxo
Marky – As if it’ll ever stop.
Dunc – Oh god “game-changer” , thank you, I actually shuddered.
Ann – I just found out about her and was sick of her immediately.
Braindance – I wish you would adopt me.
Constance – Agree!
Sheri – I used to like it when my kid said it, since I AM his mom.
Lorena – I hate it all too. WORds still matter even if you write about fashion!
Kate – and pronounced ” lit-trilly” is the worst.
“me thinks”… just loathe it!
constance- i believe that your definition correctly defines the word “vintage”. anything older is considered “antique”.
Vintage pertains to wine not clothing.
The 100 years or older business of ‘antiques’ is I believe, a legal definition.
Such a shame that there is this distaste these days for the word ‘old’.
Beannie71, such a good point.
Here is another reason to get angry with our fellow humans on the first day of the year:
I hate “colour pop”. If I ever read that phrase in a fashion magazine again, I shall rip up said magazine and devote the rest of my life to spartan pursuits or something like that. Also I cant bare FAIL, EPIC FAIL or any other geeky talk. My boyfriend would also like to add that he hates the word “puddings”, it makes him feel sick each time he hears it, bless him.
Is ‘pant’ acceptable if it’s used to indicate, “I’ll pant until Sister Wolf posts again?”
I am, sad to say, guilty of this one, but using the word “vintage” to refer to used clothing, even if it was from the ’90s. It’s really just used clothing. I was always of the mind that vintage had to refer to something that was over 100 years old, like an antique.
Describing thrift shop clothing (which, many times, is the stuff that people gave away because it was hideous) as “thrift” and looking for and finding this crap, having been “thrifted”. Hate this!
Also, the expression, “FUCK YEAH!” as used by uber cool hipster wannabes.
“Just sayin'” – normally they are “just sayin'” something misogynistic/racist.
“Wake up!!!” (with the exclamation marks, normally relating to some political conspiracy theory)
“Real man/men” – as opposed to all the pretend ones I suppose…?
It’s not a trend, but I hate the word bitch. Someone calling me a bitch normally brings out the violent thug in me. I once clonked someone on the head with a video game controller because of it. In my defence, he collected Nazi memorabilia and was a generally vile man so I refuse to feel bad about it AND I’d warned him.
I am guilty of overusing/just plain using “totes”, “lol/lolz” and “OMG”. Forgive me!
I agree with Lorena about fashion blogs often sounding inarticulate and stuffed with the same slang (I suspect my own blog ended up sounding as bad somewhere along the way). Though there are places where the writing is even worse, e.g. Jezebel, whose writers get paid to sound faux-snappy and occasionally honestly moronic.
And it’s too much to hope for, but I really want the word “fashionista” to die.
Along with the overuse of the word “vintage”. I can take the idea of clothing 15-20 years old or older being called vintage (vintage Romeo Gigli? perfectly plausible), but when someone posts about her “vintage black leggings”, it crosses several lines of stupidity.
Thank you, my lovely fellow commenters, for listing out several of the other words I’d like to take a knife to, so that I didn’t have to do it. And happy 2011 to all of you!
Oh, and I have yet another- “anyways”. It’s not even a word, your using it constantly will not confer vocabulary legitimacy on it.
And yet another, though this isn’t so much a word as a grammar nitpick- please, can people learn the difference between “bear” (verb, not furry animal” and “bare”? The city has to “bear” the expense of a blizzard cleanup, not “bare” it. Honestly.
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/12/in_hells_kitchen_cost_of_blizz.html
If “vintage” clothing was restricted to meaning Edwardian era and older, there would be very few pieces of them lying around, and most wouldn’t be wearable. I’m fine with categorizing a 70’s Thea Porter or an 80’s Galanos garment as vintage.
“real women”
“fatshion”
“upcycled”
“microbrew”
“on trend”
“This.”
“chesticles”
Dru – It’s worth repeating, “anyways” IS NOT A FUCKING WORD.
Oh dear. I haven’t a clue what some of these mean and certainly don’t want to know. If something sounds annoying to my ears, I steer clear.
I admit to saying “no worries”. However, I think I should be excused, as it’s a common phrase in the West Indies, my former home.
Here’s one I loathe: “shout out”. What the hell is that? I don’t appreciate shouting nor ending a sentence with a preposition (although I admit to doing both but hopefully not at the same time).
P.S. Two more:
Fashionista- one of the most inane made-up words ever. I hate “fashionista” so much that I actually had problems typing it here. Perhaps I am wrong but I believe it’s incorrect to use -ista anyway. Activist = activista? I think not.
As per usual- what’s wrong with saying “as usual”?
I HATE ‘amazeballs’, where did that even come from?? Urgghhh…
I’d like to ban basically every idiotic canned term right wing politicians use: ‘game changer’, ‘lamestream’, etc. SO DUMB.
‘Curate’, used in the context of writing a fashion or art blog really bothers me. NO. So fucking obnoxious and self-aggrandizing.
‘Socialist’, ‘anarchist’, etc, ALWAYS MISUSED. Are people totally oblivious to dictionaries or something? (A: yes).
‘Killing it’. Unless it refers to you know, actually killing something.
Also ‘real women’. Fuck anyone who uses that term. So fucking stupid. I feel like it defacto excludes any female under 150 pounds with breasts smaller than a D cup. Not that I really want to be included with the morons who throw around that term freely, but I am also female so.
I also agree with Dru that the writing style on fashion blogs and websites like Jezebel is so incredibly irritating.
I do I find the sudden popularity of ‘deal with it’ hilarious. That phrase was kind of an inside joke amongst my housemates and I because someone found the old myspace profile of our douchey housemate, discovered he was somehow even more of a tool when he was younger, and the kicker was the closing line in his about me section: “I’m Martin, DEAL WITH IT”.
I’m going to add “COSTUMED” or “my costume of the day” which is used on fashion blog sites to no end. Unless you are Al Jourgensen and Halloween is Everyday then you are wearing clothing, not costumes.
ep·ic   
[ep-ik] —adjective Also, ep·i·cal.
1.
noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer’s Iliad is an epic poem.
2.
resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country.
3.
heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.
4.
of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions.
not “oh my god this primark top is such a find, so epic!” or (as someone else noticed) “EPIC FAIL!” . also, when internet slang is purposely mocked, but in an incredibly annoying way that just eliminates and cancels out any funny aspect to what is being said. example: “HAD SO MANY LOLZ LAST NIGHT ON THA INTERWEBZ OMGZZZZZ”
When fuckhead beauty bloggers describe a makeup item as their “go-to” product. And as someone mentioned above “bang-on-trend” FUCK.
Oh and due to too much wine I forgot “bold red lip” Happy New Year!
When bloggers refer to their boyfriend as “The Boy”. Just stop it.
anything that involves the word “moto”, booties, and vintage. anything purchased at a thrift store now is vintage…i suppose.
and the word goth.
Jaimi- “Killed it” was a very commonly used term at my college for (people who’d) done well at exams or other difficult things- shit that counted as achievements, that is.
I think my friends who used it would be astonished to hear people using it to refer to other people who’d mastered the incredibly difficult task of….dressing themselves.
I also agree about the “real women” stupidity. If I’m not large enough for someone’s taste, does that mean they can imply that I’m, er, imaginary (which would follow from being “not real”)? I’m all for skinny white teenagers not being promoted as the only ideal of beauty there is, but inclusiveness isn’t going to be achieved by demonising anyone for looking a certain way.
– “epic”, “fail” or worse, “epic fail” .. just horrible.
– when adults say “nom nom nom” or “nommy” (as in pretending to eat something that you find delicious). it makes me WANT TO THROW THINGS.
– having a “cheeky drink” – wtf does that even mean?
– FML. although its funny when people write “FML my life” not realise how idiotic they are.
how about cute?
why do most americans always say cute to describe something that appeals to them?
i have heard this millions of times on tv (even oprah is guilty), spoken on the streets and work whilst i was there, being used all the time to express one’s delight at some floral arrangement to admiring a random hobo’s savvy outfit on the street for example.
please refrain from using this word, be more sensitive and specific when expressing yourselves for crying out loud.
cute gives ear-burns.
Palin
YES ISABELLA oh thank you for remembering that. i HATE IT! or even worse just when bloggers NEED you to know they have a boyfriend and drop the reference in every second sentence.
Kirsten – Any of that ironic “interwebs” shit is horrible. Painful, even.
Pam Power – Bold Red LIp, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh. LIke “pop of color.” It’s so condescending.
Isabella – “the boy” = capital crime. Horrible.
mimi- I’m afraid to ask, but what does FML mean??
SW: FML = Fuck My Life. Awful.
Ann – Oh no. Shit.
I was thinking “ohno!” when I saw “no worries” but then its an Australian thing and I happen to be in Australia so its all okay.
Please tell me “redonkulous” & “redonk” is still okay…
Oh, wait, I have one… “I DIE”
(Full disclosure, I’ve said this once or twice.)
va-jay-jay
I hate “Thrifting.” Especially when it’s said by wanky bloggers in Britain. In Britain we have charity shops (Second hand shops run by various charities.) We’ve never had thrift stores, EVER!, and never will. So zip it, you moronic twats.
Most of the words listed depress me. “Fashion forward” is another idiotic term.
like
rocking
thrifted
Has anyone already mentioned awful Rachel Zoe’s catch phrase “I die” yet? Either way, that needs to stop. “Cray cray” needs to die, too.
I also just heard “That is so fetch” the other day, and that was pretty damn irritating. Go fetch this!
Never, ever want to hear “In this economy” or “Man repeller” again. Ever. I mean it this time.
channelling
rad
macaroon
cupcake
go-to (good call whoever listed that one earlier, it’s infuriating!)
Wow! Totally rad list! Kudos!….anyways….
Tanya – thank you for remembering va-jay-jay. That seriously makes me want to kill people.
Lately, I’ve been hearing “love love love” a lot, and while I used to say it years ago, when it’s on TV commercials (I forget which one, but I saw it a lot over the holidays), it needs to go away.
I am really over the combination words: frenemy, and the like. Ugh!
And I will always hate pop and artisan (when used by gas stations to describe their fancy coffees, etc.).
Honeypants — ugh yes to “artisan” gas station coffee. Reminds me of another word that I hate and often misused in similar fashion — “premium”. Yeesh.
‘space’ to describe a room or area
oneypants – artisan continues to make me laugh.
“space” for “room” is so sad, you know that’s someone whos’e going to curate a pant.
:o)
I go off someone straight away when they say something like ‘thats a great space’
SLAP!!!!
I have to admit I use “No worries” a lot, but in the context of replying to an apology for a minor offense. Never as a substitute for “You’re welcome”. And I HATE “No problem” as a substitute for “You’re welcome”.
Also have come to hate “NOM”. It was cute and funny 3 years ago when my 15 year old daughter used it, and became a little family in-joke. But she’s 18 now and I need to stop using this immediately.
I can still refer to my actual son as “the boy”, though, can’t I?
Thanks for all this. Giving me a much-needed laugh today.
Frock. In America, we call them dresses.
I just remembered another one: SLIDERS. Just because you shrink it down and give it a trendy name doesn’t mean it’s not a burger. What do they even have to do with sliding anyway? That one makes me irate!!!