It might be a little early but let’s make our list of words we don’t want to hear in 2014.
Time online is asking readers to vote on a list of 15 annoying words or terms. “Selfie” is a must for any list of awful words, but what the hell is “FOMO?” I only just learned YOLO!
I may be too old and out-of-it to know all the linguistic outrages of 2013 (‘At the end of the day’ and ‘Reach out’ are perennials) but so far I’m on board with these:
Selfie
Hashtag
Because + noun
Kimye
Farm-to-table
Lean in
Millenials
Optics
Game-changer
Cultural Appropriation
Celeb
Instagram
Okay, you can see I need help. Suggestions?
Not
Said no one
Maven, curated, wildcrafted…I am sick of these as well!
“fragment + though” and “noun + though” as conversational crux.
Seeing this list feels like the first step of therapy (that will ultimately never work)
rigor
robust
stakeholders
high stakes tests
data
proficient
English Language Learners
Growth Model
Race to the Top—since when is childhood a race? And who is racing? Probably the children that got left behind!
FOMO is Fear Of Missing Out. It’s supposed to be the emotion we feel when we’re looking at Facebook and feeling like everyone’s at a party except us.
I am totally guilty of Because + noun. Because laziness.
Shewrote – Your list makes my blood pressure go crazy.
Lauren – Oh god, how horrible, both the acronym and the state it describes. Make it stop.
“Push back” to mean “Disagree with”
What’s “YOLO”?
Wait, optics? But that’s a field of physics. What is its hipster connotation?
Also I vote for “check your privilege.” It’s such an obnoxious phrasing.
I live in Silicon Valley, and if I never hear the word ‘disrupt’ again it will be too soon.
My friend met a TEENAGER who didn’t know if a blog was, maybe, one of those Internet things? I want to know where that kid is from, and then move there.
This has been around since 9/11, but I can’t stand “first responders” to describe police, firemen and emt’s. If we need a blanket term for all of those,how about just emergency personnel or something. Who the hell knows or cares who got there first?
Locavore
twerk!
manifesto
acquired
You’ve beat me with:
Farm-to-table (oh, my God, so much rage)
FOMO
YOLO
And “HASHTAG _________!” in face-to-face conversation. I want to smash everyone who says it. And I actually hear it on a semi-regular basis.
Agree with curated. Stoked, under the bus, cool, selfie, only a few that I can think of right now yo…
Words I would never, ever want to hear again (but it’s not going to happen):
Illuminati
Elite
Reptilians
Evolved – as in “Evolved Soul”
and the sentence which should be prohibited right now: “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”.
Maybe you guessed that the conspiracy theorists abound where I live. Sigh.
‘problematic’
more of a phrase but I HATE ‘all the things’ and cutesy internet speak like that. though it seems to be on the decline according to this: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/x-all-the-y
I forgot one more: sheeple
Angie – Optics = (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=0)
I have only just now been assaulted with the ‘check your privilege’ thing! Horrible!
“This” as in to agree with a comment someone has made online.
Boots on the ground
Upcycled
Repurposed
Amazeballs – I STILL hear this
And while it’s several years old by now, if I hear one more person say they threw up in their mouth a little, I’m going to have to throw up in their mouth. A lot.
Rock still hasn’t gone away yet (#128545#)
Honeypants – YES, Honeypants, throw up in their mouth, a lot!!!!
“No problem”
sadly, I believe it has replaced ” your welcome”.
Thank you for this post and all of the comments. Your collective distaste of these words is so comforting to me. Can I please add the use of flair as a noun – eg an accessory is a piece of ‘flair’.
I don’t know a lot of the words/phrases already mentioned so that must mean I live under a rock and should have no part in this conversation. But there are some things that have bothered me this year:
I feel/am blessed
mindfulness
present
let it go
creative (when used as a noun or pronoun)
laid-back
effortless
obsessed
grateful
twerk
“I’m a work in progess”
muse
iconic
off-duty
trend alert
trending
let me be clear
custom
made with love
male gaze
dewy
give back
unsettling
channeling outrage
I am with Honeypants. Also
Curated
Twerk
Bling, or worse Bling Bling (said by middle aged houswives thinking they are hip)
Kardashian
Yezus
some more:
on the offensive
really?
ye olde [anything]
Tom Ford
lust-worthy
“sync up with” to mean “talk to”
Snapchat
“hash out”
anything described as “social networking combined with”
Oh my god I’m a bit late joining in on this one, but:
Sick (when something is just ‘good’)
Wicked (same annoying modern definition)
Amazing – when again its just good
Amazeballs – grrrr
Awesome – no its just good!!!!!!
Space – when referring to an area or room, this will always irritate me
nom nom – creepy, really creepy
I’ve just learned two new words that are awful: “listicle” and “charticle.” They have some usefulness but I’m afraid “-ticle” will become the suffix of a bunchticle of new annoying words.
Oh dear God, make an end of it!
Twitterscape
Geeked Out (as in, got really excited about)
Nerded Out (see above)
Yummy (I fucking hate when adults use baby words to describe pleasurable tastes or feelings).
annemarie – You are on fire, girl! Every one a winner!!!!!
Kellie – Kardashian, I forgot that! Do you think that word has meaning, globally? This worries me.
I agree with Bev on the ‘no problem’
And I’ll add artisanal to the list
Miley
Cialis
THE CLOUD
“pant” when you mean “pants”
“lip” when you mean “lips” — like “a bold red lip.” Not that anyone needed an example.
lovely
first-world problem
blessed, as in “I’m so,” “We’ve been so”
no worries
“you’re fine” as a response to someone who says “excuse me” when passing a person in a shopping aisle
reclaimed
trending
kick the can down the road
gifted as a verb, hell, as an adjective, too.
I love words too much to permanently wish any of them gone, even though I sometimes think I could live the rest of my life without hearing anyone else yell “Wut wut!”
Repeated use of the word ‘handmade’ to describe anything. Obviously someone used their HANDS. Like anything is ever footmade?!?!!
FACEPALM
SMH (as the acronym for “shaking my head”)
Non-Australians who say “no worries,” or worse, Americans who say it when they’re quite upset
And everything sisty wrote.
jlynn – Hate all three.
sisty – don’t forget ‘shoe’ or heel
suzanne – Oh my god, “you’re fine” is absolutely enraging!!!!
Kate and Bev – We need a comeback for ‘no problem.’ Something will will deter further usage.
More to add
The word “do” to substitute as a verb. Such as “I dont do sushi”or “we are doing burgers this weekend”.
Conversation as in, “we need to have a conversation about molesters”
Me and her or her and me
Preventative
You feel me?
All grotesque…
On trend.
WTF, you espouse what’s trendy but you’re too cool to use an existing word? I am filled with rage!!!!
Also, lippy. Give me a fucking break
SUPERFOOD,
For you lot ‘over there’:
Barack Obama
John Kerry
Al Gore
For us lot ‘over here’:
David Cameron
Ed Miliband
Nick Clegg
And I’d like to add
Hermès scarf
totes
Justin Bieber
describing anyone, ever, as hot
sweetie
Cumberbitch
I have to stop before my blood reaches boiling point.
Foodie
Rave
Self-proclaimed
Viral
Hip
Trendy
* A self-proclaimed foodie raved about a new restaurant in the hip and trendy downtown neighbourhood; the restaurant has now become viral!
What can you put at the table? (this is typically asked during job interviews; and may I say, I can put my boobs on the table)
Statement Piece (when it is just a damn necklace)
An investment piece
It is cool yet chic at the same time
Using ‘like’ as a filter in a sentence. (He like said to me that he would like to like go to that place where there were like a lot of like people). I want to strangle people who speak like this and say, I just like to kinda like kill you!!!
What about when they can’t even spell “though” out whilst using it annoyingly? most commonly seen on instagram: “dat shirt doe!”
Makes me craaaazy!
BUT the absolute worst- “EPIC” gets thrown around so inappropriately all the time now and sounds so stupid being used as such…when the true meaning is just so very…epic! Grrrr.
Dj’s “do”
and annemarie’s “really?”
and Sam’s “space”
I’ll add: GENUINE.
I do like “proficient”. It is so clipped!
Let’s digress…here is my favorite word that I learned this year and it is all encompassing..the word is………fuckery. As in “all the holiday family fuckery”, the ” fuckery over at the NRA”, ” the usual fuckery”. I may have gotten in Late on this one but for me, it can say it all…..
I love fuckery. It’s a word we’ve been missing and we greatly needed it.
pizzazz
topper – as in hat or cap
chunky knit
perfect jeans
resto
sorta
kinda
organic- as in creative process
editor – this year it was more annoying than blogger and stylist
that’s it for now, year is not over yet.
I too have a great love for fuckery. Thank you Amy Winehouse.
Can I please add Erectile to the long list of hate words? It’s as bad as most suggested.