Comparing Annual Word Lists (Michigan Edition)

A topic of mention on many blogs and websites recently has been the publication of Lake Superior State University's 2011 Banished Words List. For those who do not know, Lake Superior State University is located in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan.

Interestingly, a magazine with offices located in Detroit, Michigan also published a list of taboo words. The December issue of Hour Detroit Magazine includes an article titled 40 Different Words and Phrases Not to Use.

I thought it might be fun to compare LSSU's list with that of Hour Detroit's.

LSSU's list includes 14 words and phrases and Hour Detroit's list includes 40.

The only no-no word that the two lists share is back story. Following is the back story commentary from each list.

Hour Detroit - "BACK STORY. What’s wrong with background?"

LSSU - BACK STORY
"This should be on the list of words that don't need to exist because a perfectly good word has been used for years. In this case, the word is 'history,' or, for those who must be weaned, 'story.'" Jeff Williams, Sherwood, Ariz.

Here are a few more of the words and phrases from each list.

LSSU

Wow factor

Epic

BFF

Viral

I'm just sayin'

Hour Detroit

End result

Begs the question

Icon, iconic

Male nurse

Trust me

Skill set

For the full lists and descriptions please click on the above links.

Click here for a post about Lake Superior State's 2010 Banished Words List and here for the 2010 Filipino Word of the Year.

Image from Rob Balder's PartiallyClips via Language Log.

2009 Word of the Year Lists, Part II

Lake Superior State University has a different take on "Word of the Year" lists. Each year, students at LSSU review a list of words that has been nominated "for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness" to form a "Banished Words List" for the future year.

Following are some of the entries from the 2010 Banished Words List:

SHOVEL-READY

CZAR

TWEET

STIMULUS

TOXIC ASSETS

BROMANCE

CHILLAXIN'

For the complete list go to: Lake Superior State University 2010 List of Banished Words

2009 Word of the Year Lists, Part I

In this past Friday's post about flexitarianism, I mentioned that the American Dialect Society named the word "flexitarian" the "most useful word of the year" in 2003. Well, the American Dialect Society has just released its list of candidates for Word of the Year for 2009. Included in the list under various categories are:

fail: A noun or interjection describing something
egregiously unsuccessful. Usually used as an
interjection: “FAIL!”

rogue: Someone who acts in an unexpected way.

twenty-ten: A pronunciation of the year 2010, as opposed
to saying “two thousand ten” or “two thousand and
ten.”

birther: A person who believes Barack Obama was not
born in the United States and, therefore, is
disqualified to be president.

and my favorite:


Dracula sneeze: Covering one’s mouth with the crook of
one’s elbow when sneezing, seen as similar to
popular portrayals of the vampire Dracula, in which
he hides the lower half of his face with a cape.



Complete list available at the American Dialect Society.


UPDATE:
Results are in; the 2009 Word of the Year is "tweet".
Also, the Word of the Decade is "google".