OTP: Queen's English

Michigan University Banishes Worn-Out Words, Phrases of 2006 Such As
'Gone Missing'
12-31-2006 5:53 PM
By SVEN GUSTAFSON, Associated Press Writer

DETROIT -- If the media's habit of combining celebrity names didn't
cause word watchers enough heartburn in 2006, the past year had plenty
of other words and phrases that language purists wish had "gone
missing."

Lake Superior State University on Sunday released its annual "List of
Words and Phrases Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use,
Over-Use and General Uselessness."

The Sault Ste. Marie school in the Upper Peninsula has been compiling
the list since 1976 to attract publicity. A total of 16 words or
phrases were selected by a university committee from more than 4,500
nominations.

The list reads like a lexicon of popular culture.

Take "ask your doctor," the mantra of pharmaceutical commercials. The
university called it "the chewable vitamin morphine of marketing."

Critics piled on the media's practice of combined celebrity names such
as "TomKat" or "Brangelina." One said, "It's so annoying, idiotic and
so lame and pathetic that it's "lamethetic.'"

Real estate listings were targeted for overuse of "boast." As in
"master bedroom boasts his-and-her fireplaces _ never 'bathroom
apologizes for cracked linoleum,'" quipped Morris Conklin of Portugal.

It wasn't hard to find the phrase "gone/went missing" in 2006. "It
makes 'missing' sound like a place you can visit, such as the Poconos.
Is the person missing, or not?" asked Robin Dennis of Texas.

The university's word watchers had no use for "truthiness," the word
popularized by Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert. It was selected
as the word that best summed up 2006 in an online survey by dictionary
publisher Merriam-Webster.

The list, which in recent years has included such gems as "show me the
money, "erectile dysfunction" and "holiday tree," is closing in on its
1,000th banishment. And despite the university's vigilance, university
spokesman Tom Pink said he's not aware that any dictionaries have
followed its advice.

"Sometimes people write us and tell us, 'This isn't working,'" Pink
said. "I tell them we need an enforcement division."

___

On the Net:

Banished words: http://www.lssu.edu/banished


.... numbnutz iron tom loves nature in spite of what it did to him.