Since 1975, Lake Superior State University has published a list of misused and overused words and phrases, nominated by people like us who have an intimate and meaningful relationship with the English language — we use it to communicate.
The list began this year by returning truthiness — coined by Stephen Colbert — to the list of approved words. Seems there just is no substitute for it in the lingua franca.
Here’s this year’s list. For explanations about why they nominated them from those who nominated the words, go here.
Perfect storm
Webinar
Waterboarding
Organic
Wordsmith/wordsmithing
Author/authored
Post 9/11
Surge
Give back
Blank is the new blank or X is the new Y
Black Friday
Back in the day
Random
Sweet
Decimate
Emotional
Pop
It is what it is
Under the bus
To which we would add:
At the end of the day — meant to be a kind of summation, but mainly used as a place-holder when someone has nothing better or more intelligent to say
Drill down — used in marketing speak to mean to get down to the nugget of whatever it is that’s currently under consideration
Blogoshpere — just a stupid-sounding word
Social media — is there any other kind?
Web 2.0 or anything 2.0 — duh
Lassitude — a perfectly fine word that no one uses
Do you have some words or phrases that just grate on your ear like fingernails on a blackboard? Let us know. Leave a comment.
OMG!!! “On the table,” the number one most annoying and overused phrase of the year, is missing. How can this be (off the table)??
A few from the middle management lexicn that I find annoying:
“Preplanning” and to a lesser degree, “preprogammed” because they suggest by adding a prefix, what should already be abundantly clear. Planning is an activity that by its nature happens prior to the event or action that it anticipates.
I also used to get a kick out of “potential hazard”. Middle management types are always eliminating “potential hazards” speaking of something that had already presented a risk, which in short, is a hazard. It just sounds more “pro-active”. (Yuck!)
“Awesome!” sheesh
There’s a blog dedicated to the abuse of cliches: The Snowclones Database.
I nominate “on the ground”.
I am sick of hearing comprehensive immigration when what they mean is amnesty. I am sick of hearing undocumented workers when the words are illegal aliens.