Words to Banish

I think we can all agree here:

Drawing nominations from English enthusiasts and those just plain tired of overused expressions, Lake Superior State University’s Word Banishment Committee has issued its list of words and phrases it deems time to be “unfriended.”

Among them: “teachable moment,” “czar,” “shovel-ready” and combinations of words such as “sexting,” “chillaxin’ ” and “bromine.”

I’m keen on eliminating the use of the word “czar,” but I sure do wish Obama would ban them from his administration. Also, the only thing that turned out to be “shovel ready” in this stimulus was any semblance of fiscal responsibility on the part of Congress. That’s been well and truly buried.

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3 thoughts on “Words to Banish”

  1. They want us to stop using bromine too? What’s next hydrogen? Oxygen? Carbon?

  2. It’s time to ban the phrase “weapons cache” from the news media and law enforcement. It’s almost abused as often as the phrase “assault weapon”. Every time they find two or more guns, they claim the person had a “weapons cache”.

    Just last week, our local paper reported that a police officer discovered a local man’s weapons cache when searching the trunk of his car – he had a shotgun, two hand guns and an SKS assault rifle according to the officer quoted in the article.

    I’m close to asking for the work “arsenal” to be banned too as it is often used synonymously with the phrase “weapons cache”. A recent news report stated a local pot grower was arrested and police discovered his “arsenal”of weapons under the bed including two Ruger 10/22s, two Glock handguns, and a Remington 870 shotgun.

  3. What Countertop said.
    Bromine is a perfectly good english word (with a couple meanings).

    A collection of legally-acquired firearms is neither a “weapons cache” nor an “arsenal”. I’ve tried several times to educate the local news writers on these issues, but even when they seem to get it, the copy editors and the headline writers don’t. I have made it my task to respond each and every time I read locally about a (non)”arsenal” or (non)”weapons cache”, with the admonition that the correct term is a COLLECTION.

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