Banish 'Manspreading,' 12 Other Words in 2016: List

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SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – So, here it is, the 41st annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness from Lake Superior State University.

There was no gathering of stakeholders at a presser to announce the words that may break the Internet. The wordsmiths at the university aren’t walking it back, but they are inviting those who disagree to join the conversation. Just don’t vape while you’re doing it. That could be problematic.

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The late W.T. Rabe, a public relations director at the university, came up with the first list of words with LSSU faculty and staff at a New Year’s Eve party in 1975. It was published it on Jan. 1, 1976, and if there had been an Internet back then, the list would have broken it.

The volume of snail mail — should we talk about that phrase? — Rabe received suggested the list would have, ahem, overall usefulness in cleaning up speech, and there would be no shortage of words to choose for banishment in 1977. He was right, and then some.

Since then, the list has consisted entirely of nominations received from around the world throughout the year, according to a press release — not a presser, which we’ll explain later, but a press release.

Tens of thousands of nominations have been received through the university’s website, and the list now includes more than 800 words and phrases used in everyday speech, by media and politicians, and in education, technology, advertising and other fields.

A committee makes a final decision for each year’s list in late December.

Here’s the 2016 list:

So

This word was previously banished in 1999 when nominators said, “I am SO down with this list.” But now so is being banished because it is often used as the first word to answer a question.

“For example,” Bob Forrest of Tempe, AZ, wrote, “ ‘How did you learn to play the piano?’ Answer: ‘So my dad was in a classical music club ...’ ”

“Tune in to any news channel and you’ll hear it,” added Scott Shackelton, of Sault Ste. Marie. “The word serves no purpose in a sentence and to me is like fingernails on a chalkboard.”

Thomas H. Weiss of Mt. Pleasant, MI, wrote that so is even more irksome than “like” and “um” when used at the beginning of a sentence. “It hurts my ears, every single time I hear it!” he declared.

“So it’s really getting annoying,” wrote David G. Simpson, of Laurel, MD. “So can we please put a stop to this?”

Conversation

Oops, are they talking about Patch? Online publications invite readers to “join the conversation,” which sometimes can turn into a scream-fest, the wordsmiths at LSSU said.

“Over the past five years or so, this word has been increasingly used by talking heads on radio, television and in political circles to describe every form of verbal communication known to mankind. It has replaced ‘discussion,’ ‘debate,’ ‘chat,’ ‘discourse,’ ‘argument,’ ‘lecture,’ ‘talk,’ all of which can provide some context to the nature of the communication,” wrote Richard Fry of Marathon, Ontario. “Perhaps the users feel that it is a word that is least likely to offend people, but I consider it to be imprecise language that, over time, dumbs down the art of effective discourse.”

Problematic

Urban Dictionary calls problematic “a corporate-academic weasel word.” Nominators didn’t like it much, either.

“Anything that the speaker finds vaguely inconvenient or undesirable, such as an opposing political belief or bad traffic,” Adam Rosen, of Asheville, NC. “Contrast things that are self-evidently taken to be problematic with, say, actual problems like a hole in the ozone layer or a job loss.”

Stakeholder

“Often used with ‘engagement,” wrote Gwendolyn Barlow, of Portland, OR. “If someone is disengaged, they’re not really a stakeholder in the first place. LSSU, please engage your stakeholders by adding this pretentious jargon to your list.”

Price Point

Kevin Carney, of Chicago, called it an “alliterative mutation” replacing either “price” or “cost.”

“It may be standard business-speak,” he wrote, “but must it contaminate everyday speech?”

“It has no ‘point,’ ” Guy Michael, of Cherry Hill, NJ, wrote. “ t is just a ‘price.’ ”

Secret Sauce

Bill Evans, of Clinton, MS, said the phrase is too often used in business discussions. “I’m tired of it,” he wrote.

“Usually used in a sentence explaining the ‘secret’ in excruciating public detail,” wrote John Beckett, of Ann Arbor, MI. “Is this a metaphor for business success based on the fast food industry?”

Break the Internet

This phrase is apparently universally annoying.

“An annoying bit of hyperbole about the latest saucy picture or controversy that is already becoming trite,” wrote Tim Bednall, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

“Meaning a post or video or whatever will have so much Internet traffic that it will ‘break the internet,’ ” wrote Matthew Squires, of Auburn, MI. “It’s being used for every headline and video. Ridiculous.”

Walk It Back

What does this even mean? Max Hill, of Killeen, TX, wondered that, too.

“It seems as if every politician who makes a statement has to ‘walk it back,’ meaning retract the statement, or explain it in laborious detail to the extent that the statement no longer has any validity or meaning once it has been ‘walked back,’ ” he wrote.

Presser

The shortened form of “press conference” or “press release” annoys the heck out of Constance Kelly, of West Bloomfield, MI.

“Not only is there no intelligent connection between the word ‘presser’ and its supposed meaning, this word already has a definition: a person or device that removes wrinkles. Let’s either say ‘press conference’ or ‘press release’ or come up with something more original, intelligent and interesting!”

Manspreading

Used to describe that time when you can’t find a seat on the subway or bus.

“Men don’t need another disgusting-sounding word thrown into the vocabulary to describe something they do …You’re just taking too much room on this train seat, be a little more polite… ” wrote Carrie Hansen, of Caledonia, MI.

Vape

Vape is the act of “smoking” e-cigarettes, which the wordsmiths at LSSU noted is strange in itself, given the products emit vapor instead of smoke.

David Ervin, of Sault Ste. Marie, wrote that he hopes the word “goes up in smoke.”

Giving Me Life

This word has nothing to do with giving birth, but is a catch-all for anything that causes excitement or laughter.

“I suggest banishing this hyperbole for over-use,” wrote Ana Robbins, of Sault Ste. Marie. “This list of banished words is ‘giving me life’!”

Physicality

This word was included on the list for sports fans because, as John Kollig, of Jamestown, NY, wrote, it’s overused by sports broadcasters and sports writers.

“I am not sure who is responsible, but over the last 12-18 months you cannot watch a sporting event, listen to a sports talk show on radio, or anything on ESPN without someone using this term to attempt to describe an athlete or a contest,” added Dan Beitzel, of Perrysburg, OH.

Want more? Here’s a link to the full list.

» Photo by Zeh Fernando via Flickr/Creative Commons