Every year Lake Superior State University releases its "List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness."
The 2009 list includes some of my personal favorites, including "green," "carbon footprint," "maverick" and "staycation." Others were completely ignored.
So I decided to develop my own banished words list and extend it to include particularly offensive phrases, gestures and pronunciations.
Here goes, in no special order:
-- My personal favorite. Can you spell R-E-D-U-N-D-A-N-T?
-- Completely ignored. As opposed to only partially ignored?
-- Harvest, as in: "Japan plans to harvest up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales this season." Unlike crops, mammals aren't gathered. They're slaughtered. (And yes, under International Whaling Commission rules it's illegal for whales to be killed for commercial purposes. That's why Japan is calling the "harvest" "research.")
-- The reveal, used as a noun by reality TV shows to mean the moment when the audience gets to see a transformed person or space (by which time said audience is usually frustrated because the reveal was withheld too long).
-- Ciao. It's charming when my European friends say it but just sounds silly coming from someone who can't speak at least one romance language.
-- CHEE-LAY, for Chile. Sure, that's how the natives pronounce it. But most of us aren't natives -- and we don't say MEH-HEE-KOE for Mexico or KOO-BAH for Cuba.
-- HAY-AH. This is what hair is called on commercials for shampoo and conditioners. Apparently cosmetics and personal care products work better when the voice-over specialist has a European accent.
-- "We asked ("made some calls," "investigated," "looked into it") and here's what we learned." Used by some broadcasters as a lead-in to a news story. We print journalists call that doing our job.
-- The ubiquitous "call me" sign: thumb and pinkie extended while keeping the three middle fingers curled, and held to the ear to signify a telephone. When taken away from the ear and wiggled from side to side, it's also the Hawaiian shaka or "hang loose" sign, which I like only slightly better.
-- Brangelina, Bennifer, etc. A union of names to refer to highly publicized couples. (On second thought, given the obscene amounts we pay them to entertain us, we ought to be able to call them whatever we like.)
-- Dish, used as a verb -- ad nauseam -- by entertainment writers to mean to gossip about people like Brangelina and Bennifer. Spoiler: the dish is seldom full.
Reach staff writer Marta Hepler Drahos at mdrahos@record-eagle.com.
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