Banished Words For 2018

Lake Superior State University is at it again!  For the 43rd year in a row, they’ve published their list of banished words.

Did any of your choice cringe-worthy words of 2017 make their list?

Unpack – Used (or rather, misused) when analyzing, considering, and assessing. Whatever happened to unpacking a bag or a suitcase?

Tons – Refers to an exaggerated quantity.  We’ve all used this to describe our workload (school or professionally).  But seriously, unless your referring to the weight of your car or an elephant (and no, do not use it to describe your weight!), why are you using it?

Dish – I’ve used this word, but never in writing (and only jokingly when wanting to know something). Dishes are for food, soap, and satellites, let’s leave them as such.

Pre-owned – Because it is fancier than “used” and makes more sense than “before.”  Car commercials would rather sell you a pre-owned car instead of the horribly undignified used car!

Onboarding / Offboarding – From Lake Superior State University’s description (because this is one I’ve never heard before), “Creature from the HR Lagoon. We used to have hiring, training and orientation. Now we need to have an “onboarding” process. Firings, quitting, and retirements are streamlined into “offboarding.”

Nothingburger – It’s just a fancy way of saying “nothing.”  It has nothing to do with burgers.

Let that sink in – Oh it sunk in already, drama queen.

Let me ask you this – Reminds me of how I feel whenever someone wants to ask me a question, but feels the need to pussyfoot around it.  Just spit it out already!

Impactful – If it was effective, influential, or worthy of impact, then why haven’t you JUST SAID IT ALREADY?!

Covfefe – It’s a typo born of Donald Trump.  Thank goodness Lake Superior State University wants to ban it, because I have friends who just ran with it.  It’s a typo, we get it.  Now check your Facebook statuses, see any typos there?

Drill Down – Stopping a statement.  Just finish your darn statement already.  Another one I’ve never heard, which leads me to believe I live in a hole somewhere.  And now, southern New Jersey is not a “hole.”

Fake News – Overused and annoying.  We get it, folks, if you don’t agree, it’s fake. If the President doesn’t agree, it’s fake.  Ugh, can we resolve not to use this phrase anymore.

Hot Water Heater – This is how we’ve always described that tank in our utility closet or basement that keeps our water warm.  But we’ve been doing it wrong all along.  Let’s resolve to call it a water heater!

Gig Economy – From Lake Superior State University’s description: “Gigs are for musicians and stand-up comedians. Now expanded to imply a sense of freedom and a lifestyle that rejects tradition in a changing economic culture. Runs a risk of sharecropping.”  Forgive my ignorance, but I’ve never heard this one either.  Haven’t we always referred to this as “freelancing,” or perhaps I’m misreading the description?  Eh, whatever.  I haven’t rejected tradition. I work because I need to (most of us do!), and my economic stability and freedom rely on it!

I’ve seen past lists, and am usually more familiar with some of the words.  Why haven’t I heard some of these, and why are others so annoying?!

Are you guilty of using any of these words?

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s