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Nov 18, 2008
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LSSU's Banished Words of the Year

Every year since 1976, Lake Superior State University has released a “List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness” on New Year's Day. While the school cheerfully admits that the tongue-in-cheek tradition is meant to draw publicity to Michigan's smallest public university, the list is widely enjoyed, and hundreds of nominations are received every year.

LSSU's Banished Words: 2008

  • Perfect Storm
  • Webinar — a seminar on the web about multiple topics
  • Waterboarding
  • Organic
  • Wordsmith/Wordsmithing
  • Post 9/11
  • Surge
  • Give back
  • Black Friday— referring to the day after Thanksgiving that retailers use to keep themselves out of the 'red' for the year.
  • Back in the day
  • Sweet
  • Decimate
  • Emotional
  • Pop
  • It is What it is
  • Under the bus

LSSU's Banished Words: 2007

  • GITMO — military shorthand for the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
  • Combined Celebrity Names — e.g., Bennifer, TomKat, Bragelina
  • Awesome — diluted from its meaning of “inspiring awe”
  • Gone/Went Missing
  • Pwn or Pwned — gamer slang for “own,” originally a typo
  • Now Playing in Theaters
  • We're Pregnant
  • Undocumented Alien
  • Armed Robbery / Drug Deal Gone Bad
  • Truthiness — coined by Stephen Colbert as the quality possessed by a belief one feels is true, in defiance of facts or logic
  • Ask Your Doctor
  • Chipotle
  • i-Anything
  • Search
  • Healthy Food — as opposed to “healthful
  • Boasts — as in “the apartment boasts hardwood floors”

LSSU's Banished Words: 2006

  • Surreal
  • Hunker Down
  • Person of Interest
  • Community of Learners
  • Up or Down Vote
  • Breaking News
  • Designer Breed
  • FEMA
  • First-Time Caller
  • Pass the Savings on to You!
  • 97% Fat Free
  • An Accident that Didn't Have to Happen
  • Junk Science
  • Git-er-done
  • Dawg
  • Talking Points
  • Holiday Tree
Source: Lake Superior State University. Web: http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php

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