Lake Superior State University releases a list of banished words each year (the list for 2011 is here). These are words that have gotten over-used and lost their meaning. I can’t say that I agree with the entire list, but it’s pretty accurate.
I ran a few of the banished words through a Google search on my blog, and here’s my scorecard:
- Viral … 0
- Epic … 1
- Fail … a few times, but not as LSSU bans it
- Wow Factor … 0
- A-ha Moment … 0
- BFF … 0
- Man Up … 0
Not too bad!
Now I just need to make sure I’m doing the same careful evaluation of my everyday vocabulary to make sure I don’t sound too “churchy.”
Craig T. Owens 