Would you ban these words and expressions? Can you think of any other words and expressions that should be banned? Is the language being diminished or corrupted by the overuse of of popular expressions? http://www.lssu.edu/banished/ Lake Superior State University's 41st Annual List of Banished Words So, if the wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University get their way, this is the last time a story lead like this will ever make it into print or broadcast. Answering a question by beginning with the word "so" is just one of a dozen forms of wordplay that made it onto LSSU's 41st annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. The tradition created by the late W. T. Rabe, former public relations director at Lake Superior State University, is now in its fifth decade. Compilers hope this year's list will be so popular that it will break the Internet. Overused words and phrases are problematic for thousands of Queen's English stakeholders, said an LSSU spokesperson while vaping an e-cigarette during a presser. Once something is banished, there's no walking it back; that's our secret sauce,' and theres no price point for that. Rabe and fellow LSSU faculty and staff came up with the first list of words and phrases that people love to hate at a New Years Eve party in 1975, publishing it on Jan. 1, 1976. Though he and his friends created the first list from their own pet peeves about language, Rabe said he knew from the volume of mail he received in the following weeks that the group would have no shortage of words and phrases from which to choose for 1977. Since then, the list has consisted entirely of nominations received from around the world throughout the year. Through the years, LSSU has received tens of thousands of nominations for the list, which now includes more than 800 entries. This year's list is culled from nominations received mostly through the university's website, lssu.edu/banished. Word-watchers target pet peeves from everyday speech, as well as from the news, fields of education, technology, advertising, politics and more. A committee makes a final cut in late December. And now, the 2016 list: (View / Add comments on our Banished Words Facebook page)
