Lake Superior State University is out with their 40th annual list of words that should be banished from the English language. The school collects nominations throughout the year, before a committee determines the words that will make up the list in December. This year’s words are:
– BAE (an acronym for Before Anyone Else that’s used to refer to a significant other)
– Polar Vortex (it used to be called ‘winter’)
– Hack (as it refers to tips – i.e. Life Hacks)
– Skill Set (We already have a perfectly good word for ‘skill set’. It’s call ‘skill’.)
– SWAG
– Foodie
– Curate/Curated (As in “Lorde is curating the soundtrack for The Hunger Games.” It’s a pretentious way of saying ‘selected.’)
– Friend-Raising
– Cra-Cra (short for ‘crazy’)
– Enhanced Interrogation (short for ‘torture’)
– Takeaway
– Nation (As used in sports. A country makes up a nation, not sports fans)
* Still waiting for them to add the word “Kardashian”.
* I’m pretty much fed up with “artisnal.” “Artisnal bread.” All it means is “twice as expensive.”
* Lake Superior State University thinks they’re so, you know, superior.
* How about banning politicians from saying “transparency”?
* Another one is “repurpose”: “We’ve decided to take the street fee and repurpose it for a special project.”
* Then there’s “lynchpin.” “This new tax is the lynchpin of the whole project.”
* You know how football fans can tell when there’s too many bowl games? When one of the teams is Lake Superior State University.
* Why worry about words? With all the text messaging, words are on their way out anyway.
* PHONE TOPIC: Do you agree? What words do you want to get rid of this year?