LSSU's Banished Words of the Year

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

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: 2015

  • BAE
  • Polar vortex
  • Hack
  • Skill set
  • Swag
  • Foodie
  • Curate/curated
  • Friend-raising
  • Cra-cra
  • Enhanced interrogation
  • Takeaway
  • -nation

LSSU's Banished Words: 2014

  • Selfie
  • Twerk/twerking
  • Hashtag
  • Twittersphere
  • Mister mom
  • T-bone
  • _______on steroids
  • -ageddon (car-ageddon, budget-ageddon, etc.)
  • -pocalypse (see above)
  • Intellectually/morally bankrupt
  • Obamacare
  • Adversity
  • Fan base

LSSU's Banished Words: 2013

  • Fiscal cliff
  • Kick the can down the road
  • Double down
  • Job creators/creation
  • Passion, passionate
  • YOLO
  • Spoiler alert
  • Bucket list
  • Trending
  • Superfood
  • Boneless wings
  • Guru

LSSU's Banished Words: 2012

  • Amazing
  • Baby bump
  • Shared sacrifice
  • Occupy
  • Blowback
  • Man cave
  • The new normal
  • Pet parent
  • Win the future
  • Trickeration
  • Ginormous
  • Thank you in advance

LSSU's Banished Words: 2011

  • Viral
  • Epic
  • Fail
  • WOW factor
  • A-ha moment
  • Back story
  • BFF
  • Man up
  • Refudiate
  • Mama grizzlies
  • The American people
  • I'm just sayin'
  • Facebook/google as verbs
  • Live life to the fullest

LSSU's Banished Words: 2010

  • Shovel-ready – ready to implement or begin
  • Transparent/transparency
  • Czar
  • Tweet
  • App
  • Sexting
  • Friend as a verb
  • Teachable moment
  • In these economic times...
  • Stimulus
  • Toxic Assets
  • Too big to fail
  • Bromance – a friendly relationship between two men
  • Chillaxin'
  • Obama as prefix– Obamanation, Obamacare

LSSU's Banished Words: 2009

  • Green
  • Carbon footprint/carbon offsetting
  • Maverick
  • First dude
  • Bailout
  • Wall Street/Main Street
  • -monkey – adding "monkey" to the end of a word to make it more attractive and interesting
  • – in electronic communication, resembles a heart, used to mean "love"
  • Icon/iconic
  • Game changer
  • Staycation
  • Desperate search
  • Not so much
  • Winner of five nominations
  • It's that time of year again

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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