Lake Superior State - the smallest public university in Michigan - has released its annual list of banished words. The list’s proper name is the List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness, and has been a Lake Superior tradition since 1976.

What words have been banned this year?

This year's list is pretty on-point, with many of the words being pulled from pop culture.

Selfie

Selfie is a pretty new word, relatively speaking, and it seems that most people are already sick of it.

We see them everywhere - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and SnapChat. The list goes on, and so do the selfies.

It turns out that people want them to stop.

People have taken pictures of themselves for almost as long as George Eastman's company made film and cameras. Suddenly, with the advent of smartphones, snapping a 'pic' of one's own image has acquired a vastly overused term that seems to pop up on almost every form of social media available to us. ... A self-snapped picture need not have a name all its own beyond 'photograph.' It may only be a matter of time before photos of one's self and a friend will become 'dualies.' LSSU has an almost self-imposed duty to carry out this banishment now.' – Lawrence, Coventry, Conn. and Ryan, North Andover, Mass.

Twerk/Twerking

Miley made it popular and now, according to the masses, it needs to stop. I have to admit that until Amanda made the video of herself twerking I had no idea what it was. And I was OK with that. What did others have to say about this new phenomenon?

The fastest over-used word of the 21st century.' – Sean, New London, N.H.

The newest dictionary entry should leave just as quickly.' – Bruce, Edmonton, Alberta

Hashtag

Hashtag is such a ridiculous word that Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake did a sketch talking all about how silly we sound when we use it all of the time. It is bit overused, but it is #banworthy? (Sorry, had to.)

Typed on sites that use them, that's one thing. When verbally spoken, hashtag-itgetsoldquickly. So, hashtag-knockitoff.' – Kuahmel, Gardena, Calif.

It's #obnoxious #ridiculous #annoying and I wish it would disappear.' – Jen, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Twittersphere

Can't we just stick to calling it Twitter? Does it really need to sound like it's a planet or possibly it's own universe? Turns out at least one person didn't think so,

There cannot possibly be any oxygen there.' – Matt, Toledo, Ohio

Obamacare

My guess is that there are a lot of different reasons that people want this word banished, depending on where their political affiliations lie. One thing both sides can agree on, it seems, is that the word needs to go away.

Because President Obama's signature healthcare law is actually called the Affordable Care Act. The term has been clearly overused and overblown by the media and by members of Congress.' – Ben, of Michigan

What more can I say?' – Jane, McKinney, Tex.

In all, the folks at LSSU have suggested eleven words and a couple of suffixes for banishment this year, and I have to say that I agree with pretty much all of them.

 

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