COMMENTARY | Lake Superior State University once again released its annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness. Making the list this year, in no particular order for awfulness:
Amazing
Baby Bump
Shared Sacrifice
Occupy
Blowback
Man Cave
The New Normal
Pet Parent
Win the Future
Trickeration
Ginormous
Thank You in Advance
Except for when I am in a restaurant and need to order “the most ginormous bacon cheeseburger you have,” I would say that this is pretty solid list. That being said, here are five more that I believe more than qualify as being misused, overused and useless.
With All Due Respect
When you hear this phrase, fully expect to either receive a backhanded compliment or to simply be insulted right to your face. Just hope the next time you hear “With all due respect”, that it is followed with “I completely disagree with you” and not “you are a complete and utter idiot.”
Literally
With all due respect, literally really needs to go away. I cannot remember the last time one of my friends told me a story without dropping the L word at least once. Even worse, literally is now used for both literally and figuratively, so now I don’t know who or what to take literally anymore.
LOL
If you have any contact with a person under 25 years old, you’ve read LOL literally a million times at this point. Though not a word, LOL (short for laugh out loud) is starting to replace the physical act of laughing. Tell a funny joke to your average 300-texts-a-day teenager and chances are that a chuckle or ha-ha will be replaced with an LOL.
Winning
A long time ago (all the way back in 2010), winning meant scoring more points than the opposing team or get an A on that important midterm. In 2011, the term expanded to encompass excessive drinking and drug use, womanizing and getting fired from primetime situational comedies. LOL!
It’s Not Rocket Science
What do making a sandwich, flipping a light switch and watching TV all have in common? They all aren’t rocket science. Guess what else isn’t rocket science? Everything BUT rocket science; although I hear that brain surgery is very similar. Consider yourself winning if you can avoid using this phrase for the rest of 2012.