Michigan's Lake Superior State University has released its annual list of banished words and phrases.

This is the 43rd year that the University has created a list of words that should be "Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness."

  • Unpack – Misused word for analyze, consider, assess. Concepts or positions are not packed, so they don’t need to be unpacked.
  • Tons – Refers to an exaggerated quantity, as in tons of sunshine or tons of work. ‘Lots’ would surely suffice.
  • Dish – As in to dish out the latest rumor on someone. Let’s go back to ‘talks about’ and leave dishes in the cupboard.
  • Pre-owned – What is so disgraceful about owning a used car now and then?
  • Onboarding / Offboarding – 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 – Says nothing that ‘nothing’ doesn’t already. I’ll take a quarter-pound of something in mine.
  • Let that sink in – One could say shocking, profound, or important. Let that sink in.
  • Let me ask you this – Wholly unnecessary statement. Just ask the question already.
  • Impactful – A frivolous word groping for something ‘effective’ or ‘influential.’
  • Covfefe – An impulsive typo, born into a 140-character universe, somehow missed by the autocorrect feature.
  • Drill Down – Instead of expanding on a statement, we “drill down on it.”
  • Fake News – Once upon a time stories could be empirically disproved. Now ‘fake news’ is any story you disagree with.
  • Hot Water Heater – Hot water does not need to be heated. ‘Water heater’ or ‘hot water maker’ will keep us out of hot water.
  • Gig Economy – 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.

What about Right? As in, "Gosh it's a beautiful day, RIGHT!?" What word or phrase do you thing should be on the list?



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