Banished words

We often wish that some words were deleted from the dictionary. Banished forever.

We often wish that some words were deleted from the dictionary. Banished forever. I came across one such list of banished words posted by the Lake Superior State University in Michigan on their website.

I checked some more and found the university has been compiling such a list every year since 1976. The list is released every year on New Year's Day. The website invites contributions at www.lssu.esdu.

So you know where to head if you want to send in your nomination for the 2007 list. But before that here are some of the words banished in 2005 for their mis-use, over-use and general uselessness. Surreal was reported overused by news anchors, so was hunker down.

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The contributor wrote: I have a hankering to ban all of this hunkering. Also on the wishlist were 97 per cent fat free (still has 3 per cent fat!), junk science (it’s not scientists who use this phrase, but people who practice junk politics), and yes breaking news! The contributor wrote: Once it (breaking news) stopped presses. Now it's a lower-intestinal condition brought about by eating dinner during newscasts.

Now they have to interrupt my supper to tell me that Katie Holmes is pregnant. More: Designer breed referring to breeding of dogs, first-time caller (preamble often heard on talk radio); an accident that didn't have to happen (Does this mean some accidents need to happen?).

The year before metrosexual (man who spends too much time in front of the mirror), shock and awe (remember the Iraq connection), X (xtreme, X-files), punked, bling or bling-bling, companion animals (pets), LOL (laugh out loud) were some of the words banished by the website.