Presenting the 38th annual List of Words to be Banished
“Spoiler alert,” the seemingly thoughtful way to warn readers or viewers about looming references to a key plot point in a film or TV show, nevertheless passed its use-by date for many, including Joseph Foly, of Fremont, California. He argued in his submission the phrase is “used as an obnoxious way to show one has trivial information and is about to use it, no matter what.”
At the risk of further offense, here’s another spoiler alert: The phrase receiving the most nominations this year is “fiscal cliff,” banished because of its overuse by media outlets when describing across-the-board federal tax increases and spending cuts that economists say could harm the economy in the new year without congressional action…
Other terms coming in for a literary lashing are “superfood,” `’guru,” `’job creators” and “double down.”
Blowback
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Nothing wrong with “job creators” as long as we’re actually talking about business owners, rather than government.
Othniel on December 31, 2012 at 8:29 PM
Why not just ban reality – that’s what most of the words deal with.
OldEnglish on December 31, 2012 at 8:44 PM
How about “President Obama?” If he’s going to act like an emperor, we ought to give him the title.
Caesar Barackus I
arik1969 on December 31, 2012 at 9:12 PM
“electability”
ddrintn on December 31, 2012 at 9:21 PM
You can’t ban “job creators” until you get rid of “moochers” and “looters”. Just sayin’…
Hey, how about “just sayin’”?
Fallon on December 31, 2012 at 9:25 PM
OMG, like, that word is so yesterday. Can we ban this stupid annual list instead?
John the Libertarian on December 31, 2012 at 10:00 PM
Heh..
Saltysam on December 31, 2012 at 10:04 PM
If these aren’t on the list, let me add:
*diversity, instead of merit
*multiculturalism, instead of virtue
*social justice, instead of equal justice
*economic justice, instead of equal justice
*environmental justice, instead of equal justice
*sustainable, instead of cost-effective over foreseeable future
*renewable, instead of practical, abundant and clean
*green, instead of practical, abundant and clean
*nonjudgmental, instead of intelligent and discriminating on reasonable basis
*anti-competition, versus their own Darwinian laws indicating that nature culls for the fittest.
petefrt on December 31, 2012 at 10:09 PM
Oh, and my pet peeve:
Issues, instead of problems.
Nowadays, when someone refers to a problem, they call it an issue, as in, I am having an issue with my toilet as it won’t flush.
Plays into their nonjudgmentalism of course. You see, they are winning the debate by redefining its terms.
petefrt on December 31, 2012 at 10:15 PM
Any use of “social” or “justice”. Goes double for “social justice”.
/”goes double for” also a candidate
Paul-Cincy on December 31, 2012 at 10:26 PM
“Guru” is not our word, and it has been around for millenia.
Christien on December 31, 2012 at 11:01 PM
“Dude?”
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on January 1, 2013 at 1:49 AM
I could not agree more. I hate the word ‘issue’. Its use is so pervasive and broad that it becomes meaningless. Junior engineers use the word constantly. I have banned its use in technical presentations and reports that I referee.
HeIsSailing on January 1, 2013 at 3:45 AM
True, but its common use in the West is misplaced. An expert in a some field is sometimes tagged as a ‘guru’, especially in informal introductions – and that is not what it means.
HeIsSailing on January 1, 2013 at 3:48 AM
Off the top of my head, words and phrases I wish I could ban.
Christian nation – Because it means different things to different people, which makes it meaningless.
meh. I am not sure what it means, but I see it everywhere, even in professional journalism. I want it banned because it makes me feel old.
haul. As in what you bought during a shopping spree.
HeIsSailing on January 1, 2013 at 3:53 AM
Haha! At first I thought ‘meh’ was Yiddish because Jewish pals used the similar ‘feh’ with a palms-up shoulder-shrug that also meant, roughly, “whatever” or more formally, “Who can say?”.
Still, what my Dad taught me, whether reading us bedtime stories (Mary Poppins, the Original Cinderella–a horror story) all in an amazing array of accents and voices, or whether humorously critiquing certain R&B singers of the era as using a “false falsetto”, I learned that words are toys and language is fun!
In the late 60s, Aretha Franklin demanded R-E-S-P-E-C-T from her man. She told him to give up her “Propers” when he gets home. Amen. What homemaker or working woman doesn’t want proper respect when her man walks in the door? The beauty of changing language is, more than 30 years later, the music industry shortened Ms. Franklin’s plea into ‘Props’, which is now a solid part of the lexicon.
And also because of modernity, a phrase like, “Hello, I agree with you and am with you”, now has everyone, even Sarah Palin, abbreviating with a simple‘Shout out!’
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on January 1, 2013 at 5:15 AM