{"id":17765,"date":"2018-12-31T08:07:33","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T13:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=17765"},"modified":"2018-12-31T07:52:05","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:52:05","slug":"lssus-44th-annual-list-of-words-banished-from-the-queens-english-for-mis-use-over-use-and-general-uselessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/31\/lssus-44th-annual-list-of-words-banished-from-the-queens-english-for-mis-use-over-use-and-general-uselessness\/","title":{"rendered":"LSSU’s 44th\u00a0annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University have released LSSU’s 44th<\/sup>\u00a0annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe grapple, litigate, and then yeet irritating words and phrases gathered from the nominations and votes received during 2018,\u201d said an LSSU-OTUS thought leader from the word-banishment wheelhouse. \u201cIt\u2019s the most important election of our time.\u201d<\/p>\n

LSSU’s word banishment tradition is now in its fifth decade, and was started by the late W. T. Rabe, a public relations director at Lake Superior State University.<\/p>\n

For every new year since 1976, LSSU \u2014 also\u00a0known for premier programs in nursing, engineering, robotics, and Great Lakes freshwater research \u2014\u00a0has issued this list, firmly tongue in cheek.<\/p>\n

Rabe and fellow LSSU faculty and staff came up with the first list of words and phrases that people love to hate at a New Year\u2019s Eve party in 1975, publishing it on Jan. 1, 1976. Though he and his friends created it from their own pet peeves about language, Rabe said he knew from the volume of mail he received in the following weeks that the group would have no shortage of words and phrases from which to choose for 1977. Since then, the list has consisted entirely of nominations submitted from around the world.<\/p>\n

Through the years, LSSU has received tens of thousands of nominations for the list, which now includes more than 1,000 entries. This year’s list is culled from nominations that come mostly through a university web site here<\/a>\u00a0and a word banishment page on Facebook.\u00a0Word-watchers target pet peeves from everyday speech, as well as from the news, fields of education, technology, advertising, politics and more. An editor makes a final cut in late December.<\/p>\n

And now, the 2019 list, along with reasons for banishment by nominators:<\/p>\n

Wheelhouse,\u00a0<\/b>as in area of expertise \u2013 Chris, Battle Creek, Mich., \u201cIt’s not in my wheelhouse to explain why dreadful words should be banished!\u201d;\u00a0Currie, Ottawa,\u00a0Ontario (Canada), \u201cIrritating, has become a clich\u00e9, annoys me, offence to the English language, etc.\u201d; Kevin, Portland, Ore., \u201cIt’s an awkward word to use in the 21st century. Most people have never seen a wheelhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the books . . .,\u00a0<\/b>as in finished or concluded \u2013 Sandy, White Lake Township, Mich., \u201cIt seems everyone’s holiday party is in the books this year, and it’s all there for friends to view on social media, along with the photos of the happy party attendees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wrap my head around<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Linda, Bloomington, Minn., \u201cImpossible to do and makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Platform<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Michael, Alameda, Calif., \u201cPeople use it as an excuse to rant. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter have become platforms. Even athletes call a post-game interview a \u2018platform.\u2019 Step down from the platform, already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collusion<\/b>, as in two or more parties limiting competition by deception – John, Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., \u201cWe all need to collude on getting rid of this word.\u201d<\/p>\n

OTUS family of acronyms such as POTUS, FLOTUS, SCOTUS<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 David, Kinross, Mich., \u201cOverused useless word for the President, Supreme Court, First Lady.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ghosting<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Carrie, Caledonia, Mich., \u201cSomebody doesn’t want to talk with you. Get over it. No need to bring the paranormal into the equation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeet<\/b>, as in to vigorously throw or toss \u2013 Emily, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., \u201cIf I hear one more freshman say “yeet,” I might just yeet myself out a window.\u201d<\/p>\n

Litigate<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Ronald, Fredericton, New Brunswick (Canada), \u201cOriginally meant to take a claim or dispute to a law court . . . appropriated by politicians and journalists for any matter of controversy in the public sphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grapple<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 David, Traverse City, Mich., \u201cPeople who struggle with ideas and issues now grapple with them. I prefer to grapple with a wrestler or an overgrown tree. ”<\/p>\n

Eschew<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Mary, Toronto, Ont. (Canada), \u201cNobody ever actually says this word out loud, they just write it for filler.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crusty<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Hannah, Campbellsville, Ky., \u201cThis has become a popular insult. It’s disgusting and sounds weird. Make the madness stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Optics<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Bob Tempe, Ariz., \u201cThe trendy way to say \u2018appearance\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legally drunk<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Philip, Auburn, Ind., \u201cYou’re a little tipsy, that’s all. That’s legally drunk. People who are ticketed for drunk driving are actually \u2018illegally drunk,\u2019 and we should say so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thought Leader<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Matt, Superior, Colo., \u201cThoughts aren\u2019t ranked or scored. How can someone hold a thought-lead, much less even lead by thought?\u201d; Paul, Ann Arbor, Mich., \u201cIf you follow a thought leader, you’re not much of a thinker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Importantly<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Constance, Pace, Tex., \u201cTotally unnecessary when \u2018important\u2019 is sufficient. \u2018More importantly\u2019 (banned in 1992) apparently sounds more important but is also senseless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accoutrements<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Leslie, Scottsdale, Ariz., \u201cHard to spell, not specific, and anachronistic when \u2018accessories\u2019 will do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most important election of our time . . .<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Jos\u00e9, Ozark, Ark., \u201cNot that we haven\u2019t had six or seven back-to-back most important elections of our time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about Word Banishment and previous years’ lists, visit\u00a0lssu.edu\/banished<\/a>. The site includes history and a form for submitting words and phrases. Word-watchers may check the alphabetical “complete list” on the website before making their submissions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University have released LSSU’s 44th\u00a0annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. \u201cWe grapple, litigate, and then yeet irritating words and phrases gathered from the nominations and votes received during 2018,\u201d said an LSSU-OTUS thought leader from the word-banishment wheelhouse. \u201cIt\u2019s the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[1877],"class_list":["post-17765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-northern-ontario","tag-list-of-words-banished"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 09:50:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17766,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17765\/revisions\/17766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}