The Banished Words of 2004! And 2003, and 2002, and 2001, and...

Every year the folks at Lake Superior State University get together and banish a whole bunch of words from the English language -- the words that were the most overused, overbearing, and just plain irritating. This year was the 28th issuance of the List of Words Banished from the Queen's English.

You can get 2003's list at http://www.lssu.edu/banished/archive/2003.php; it includes words and phrases like Extreme, Black Ice, and for some reason, Peel-and-Eat Shrimp. (From the Web site: "Do they think that, if the name did not contain instructions, we would peel-and-throw-on-floor?")

You can also check out 2004's list at http://www.lssu.edu/banished/archive/2004.php , which includes "bling bling," LOL, and "sanitary landfill."

But if you just do that you're missing all the cool stuff you can find on the main site at http://www.lssu.edu/banished/. You can get an archive of all previous lists, a full list of all words ever banished, and even some printable PDF posters of banned words from years gone by. Look at the early lists when words are given limited banishments and some words are nominated to be restored to the English language; fun stuff.

Posted to Reference-Dictionaries | TrackBack