A big “thank you” goes to Michigan’s Lake Superior State University for publishing their annual list of words that have been misused, overused and just plain obnoxious. The list started as a publicity ploy by the school’s public relations department on New Year’s Day 1976, and has become very popular getting tens of thousands of nominations over the years.
I was going to publish my own list, but as it happened, I agree with all their picks. Here are a few:
“The new normal” has been overused and abused, but do we know what it means? Over the past several years, I have seen many things, and many people who are not normal, in my humble opinion. Matter of fact, weird is a good descriptive word in many situations. So does that mean that weird is the new normal?
How many times can I hear “amazing” before I hit my breaking point? Along with stunning and marvellous, amazing seems to find itself in everyone’s conversation. If everything is amazing, what would you use to describe something more amazing or more stunning?
“Thank you in advance” is a phrase used frequently when asking someone to do something for you, more common in an email or snail mail. What if the request is ignored or not done to your satisfaction? Can you take the “thank you” back, or maybe by thanking them in advance, you’re laying on the guilt that they better complete your request to your satisfaction, or else?
My final I’m-sick-of-this-word/phrase . . . is BABY BUMP. When does a mother-to-be stop having a bump and refer to “the baby?” It all started with the media’s overcoverage of Beyonce and her pregnancy (yes, that’s what it used to be called). When Jessica Simpson gained 60 lbs during her 1st pregnancy, the press still referred to her bump. Really? When a young teen gets pregnant, is it a Teeny Bump? Are future twins called a Double Bump? And now we will hear all about the Royal Bump, at least until July. Our society has been using the anatomically correct words for the human body every since Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband’s you-know-what. Are we regressing to baby talk? Enough already!
