It's no surprise that in a year when Internet culture reigned, plenty of words on
Lake Superior State University's List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness came from the realms of technology and communication.
This year marks the school's 36th annual list, released on New Year's Eve. Geeks and hipsters will be sad to hear that both "epic" and "fail" can no longer be used, and they're far from the only ones. "Viral" topped the list of nominations as the most overused, misused and useless word of 2010.
Lawrence Mickel of Coventry, Conn. wrote in his nomination of the word, "Events, photographs, written pieces and even occasional videos that attracted a great deal of attention once were simply highly publicized, repeated in news broadcasts, and talked about for a few days. Now, it is no longer enough to give such offerings their 15 minutes of fame, but they must be declared to 'go viral.' As a result, any mindless stunt or vapid bit of writing is sent by its creators whirling around the Internet and, once whirled, its creators declare it (trumpets here) 'viral!' Enough already!"
Lian Schmidt of Bandon, Ore. felt equally tired of the word, saying, "Every time I see a viral video on CNN or am asked to 'Let's go viral with this' in another lame e-mail forwarded message, it makes me sick."
Other online buzzwords also made the list, including the use of "Facebook" and "Google" as verbs.
Plenty of other words that made the list came from the 2010 election cycle, including such gems as "refudiate," "the American People," "mama grizzlies," and "man up."
The list was rounded out by the overused, misused or useless "wow factor," "a-ha moment," "back story," "BFF," "I'm just sayin'," and "live life to the fullest."
Writer: Sam EgglestonSource: Tom Pink, Lake Superior State University
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