Thread: LSSU Banishes another Sixteen Words

LSSU Banishes another Sixteen Words

Written by Andrew Hooker
Sunday, 31 December 2006

LSSU has, for the 32nd time, released the List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness. This year, more than 4,500 nominations were received, making choosing words difficult. Originally conceived by Bill Rabe, former PR director and Unicorn Hunter, the list has grown in fame and lives on today, despite the retirement of ‘The Hunters’ in 1987. This year’s list contains sixteen words, nominated by people from Missouri to Thailand, Virginia to Portugal. Words are chosen based on their frequency of nomination, the reasons for nomination, and the judge’s personal opinions.
The list of words, as well as the reasons they were chosen, follows, so “gitmo chipotle-flavored eggnog, curl up with an undocumented alien, and cut-and-run to the 2007 list. It won't be coming to a theater near you.”
LSSU accepts nominations for the banished-words list throughout the year. To submit your nomination for the 2008 list, go to www.lssu.edu/banished.


GITMO -- The US military's shorthand for a base in Cuba drives a wedge wider than a split infinitive. "When did the notorious Guantanamo Bay Naval Base change to 'Gitmo,' a word that conjures up an image of a fluffy and sweet character from a Japanese anime show?" -- Marcus W., St. Louis, Missouri.
COMBINED CELEBRITY NAMES -- Celebrity duos of yore -- BogCall (Bogart and Bacall), Lardy (Laurel and Hardy), and CheeChong (Cheech and Chong) -- just got lucky. "It's bad enough that celebrities have to be the top news stories. Now we've given them obnoxious names such as 'Bragelina,' 'TomKat' and 'Bennifer.'" -- M. Foster, Port Huron, Michigan. "It's so annoying, idiotic and so lame and pathetic that it's 'lamethetic.'" -- Ed of Centreville, Virginia.
AWESOME -- Given a one-year moratorium in 1984, when the Unicorn Hunters banished it "during which it is to be rehabilitated until it means 'fear mingled with admiration or reverence; a feeling produced by something majestic." Many write to tell us there's no hope and it's time for "the full banishment." "The kind of tennis shoes you wear, no matter how cute, don't fit the majestic design of the word." -- Leila Hill, Damascus, Maryland. "That a mop, a deodorant or a dating service can be called 'awesome' demonstrates the limited vocabularies of the country's copywriters." -- Tom Brinkmoeller, Orlando, Florida. "Overused and meaningless.' My mother was hit by a car.' Awesome. 'I just got my college degree.' Awesome." -- Robert Bron, Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand.
GONE/WENT MISSING -- "It makes 'missing' sound like a place you can visit, such as the Poconos. Is the person missing, or not? She went there but maybe she came back. 'Is missing' or 'was missing' would serve us better." -- Robin Dennis, Flower Mound, Texas.
PWN or PWNED -- Thr styff of lemgendz: Gamer defeats gamer, types in "I pwn you" rather than I OWN you. "This word is just an overly used Internet typo. It has been overused to the point that people who play online games are using it in everyday speech." -- Tory Rowley, Corunna, Michigan.
NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS -- Heard in movie advertisements. Where can we see that, again? "How often do movies premiere in laundromats or other places besides theaters? I know that when I want to see a movie I think about going to a shoe store." -- Andrea May, Shreveport, Louisiana.
WE'RE PREGNANT -- Grounded for nine months. "Were men feeling left out of the whole morning sickness/huge belly/labor experience? You may both be expecting, but only one of you is pregnant." -- Sharla Hulsey, Sac City, Iowa. "I'm sure any woman who has given birth will tell you that 'WE' did not deliver the baby." -- Marlena Linne, Greenfield, Indiana.
UNDOCUMENTED ALIEN -- "If they haven't followed the law to get here, they are by definition 'illegal.' It's like saying a drug dealer is an 'undocumented pharmacist.'" -- John Varga, Westfield, New Jersey.
ARMED ROBBERY/DRUG DEAL GONE BAD -- From the news reports. What degree of "bad" don't we understand? Larry Lillehammer of Bonney Lake, Washington, asks, "After it stopped going well and good?"
TRUTHINESS – "This word, popularized by The Colbert Report and exalted by the American Dialectic Society's Word of the Year in 2005 has been used up. What used to ring true is getting all the truth wrung out of it." -- Joe Grimm, Detroit, Michigan.
ASK YOUR DOCTOR -- The chewable vitamin morphine of marketing. "Ask your doctor if 'fill in the blank' is right for you! Heck, just take one and see if it makes you 'fill in the blank' or get deathly ill." -- R.C. Amundson, Oakville, Washington. "I don't think my doctor would appreciate my calling him after seeing a TV ad." -- Peter B. Liveright, Lutherville, Maryland.
CHIPOTLE – Smoked dry over medium heat. "Prior to 2005 . . . a roasted jalapeno. Now we have a 'chipotle' burrito with 'chipotle' marinated meat, 'chipotle' peppers, sprinkled with a 'chipotle' seasoning and smothered in a 'chipotle' sauce. Time to give this word a rest." – Rob Zeiger, Bristol, Pennsylvania.
i-ANYTHING -- 'e-Anything' made the list in 2000. Geoff Steinhart of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, says tech companies everywhere have picked this apple to the core. "Turn on…tune in…and drop out." "Banish any word that starts with it. i am just tired of it. it's getting old. -- Brad Butler, Adrian, Michigan.
SEARCH -- Quasi-anachronism. Placed on one-year moratorium. "Might as well banish it. The word has been replaced by 'google.'" -- Michael Raczko, Swanton, Ohio.
HEALTHY FOOD -- Point of view is everything. Someone told Joy Wiltzius of Fort Collins, Colorado, that the tuna steak she had for lunch "sounded healthy." Her reply: "If my lunch were healthy, it would still be swimming somewhere. Grilled and nestled in salad greens, it's 'healthful.'"
BOASTS -- See classified advertisements for houses, says Morris Conklin of Lisboa, Portugal, as in "master bedroom boasts his-and-her fireplaces -- never 'bathroom apologizes for cracked linoleum,' or 'kitchen laments pathetic placement of electrical outlets.'"
Comments

http://compass.lssu.edu/content/view/433/29/
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I hope some folks will add their comments.

Undocumented Workers Are Awesome

Robert Paul Reyes
December 31, 2006

From Reuters:

"Lake Superior State University’s 32nd annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness featured such linguistic gems as “Gitmo” for the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; euphemisms such as “undocumented alien;” and such Internet-inflected synonyms as “pwn,” as in the phrase “I pwn (own) you.”

I agree with most of the words selected for banishment from the American lexicon. “Awesome” is one of the words that Lake Superior State University has selected for oblivion. My 17-year-old niece thinks that everything is so “awesome.” She sprinkles that adjective more generously than Oprah sprinkles miniature marshmallows in her hot chocolate. “Kristen did you like “Rocky Balboa”? “Uncle Robert, it was an awesome movie! For an old geezer Rocky is awesome! You are awesome for giving me the money for the movie.” Anyone over the age of 21 who uses the word “awesome” looks like an “awesome” fool.

“Camp Gitmo” sounds like a Club Med paradise — not like a place where suspected terrorists are incarcerated. Journalists should avoid using the term “Camp Gitmo” for the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

From Reuters:

"The list also suggested that the partners of pregnant women might save some embarrassment by avoiding, “We’re pregnant,” when only one of you is, the list said."

I’ve only heard one guy say “we’re pregnant”, and I felt like beating the Bejesus out of him. Just because some fool goes to a Lamaze class with his spouse, that doesn’t entitle him to say “we’re pregnant”.

But I take strong exception to the desire of of these eggheads to banish the term “undocumented alien”. I guess they would prefer us to use “illegal alien, but that phrase is the epitome of political incorrectness. We are all god’s children, there is no such thing as an illegal human being. And certainly Hispanics are not “alien” to the border areas where most migrate to. Need I remind my readers that those large swaths of land were stolen from Mexico? Undocumented workers should be welcomed with open arms; our economy would suffer greatly without their services.

Undocumented workers are awesome and anyone who refers to them as “illegal aliens” should be sent to Camp Gitmo.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articl ... leID=18476

Undocumented workers are awesome and anyone who refers to them as “illegal aliens” should be sent to Camp Gitmo.

We need to get rid of these non 'healthy food' and 'chipotle' eating 'undocumented alien' child molesters, rapists and murderers. We've had enough 'armed robberies/drug deals gone bad' it feels like some bad movie that's 'now playing in theaters'. They should go back to their 'pwn' countries or else get sent to 'Gitmo', that would be 'awesome'. If their supporters would 'search' their empty brains and used some 'truthiness' they would realize our country will soon be 'gone' because we 'boast' too many 'i-aliens' saying 'we're pregnant', seeking free health care, always having to 'ask your doctor' for free delivery services.

Originally Posted by reptile09

Undocumented workers are awesome and anyone who refers to them as “illegal aliens” should be sent to Camp Gitmo.

We need to get rid of these non 'healthy food' and 'chipotle' eating 'undocumented alien' child molesters, rapists and murderers. We've had enough 'armed robberies/drug deals gone bad' it feels like some bad movie that's 'now playing in theaters'. They should go back to their 'pwn' countries or else get sent to 'Gitmo', that would be 'awesome'. If their supporters would 'search' their empty brains and used some 'truthiness' they would realize our country will soon be 'gone' because we 'boast' too many 'i-aliens' saying 'we're pregnant', seeking free health care, always having to 'ask your doctor' for free delivery services.

Yes, I will say it because it's true, these illegals are a disease and cancer to America, and it's time with this New Year that Congress cleansed this country of this disease by a wall and deportation of all illegals from our soil,nothing less!

I think we should all write Mr Reyes a letter and tell him that yes we are all Gods children some of us belong in America and some of us belong in Mexico!