"Banned" words

I always enjoy this. It's a bit of curmudgeonly commentary on words that are overused. Banned words from 2008, from LSSU.

So, what do I think of the list? Here are my thoughts:

Green (At least as used for anything other than the color)

Yes, please. Can we make this go away? It has been so over-used as to become useless. And in some cases "green" is used in such an annoying, holier-than-thou context, as in a person who has the plumbing re-routed in their house so that their toilet flushes with the graywater from their washing machine. And then of course someone else pipes up that they are even BETTER because they have a composting toilet. Feh.

And a lot of the stuff that's claimed to be "green" either really isn't, or really doesn't help that much: if you are driving 50 miles to drop off recyclables, that's really not that 'green.'

Carbon footprint or Carbon offsetting

Yes, another one I am heartily tired of. It's just a new way companies have of trying to attract buyers - this time, people who are filled with guilt by the fact that they produce carbon dioxide.

Don't get me wrong: I'm all for conservation and a lot of conservation measures make tremendous sense, both environmentally AND economically. But tying yourself in knots over your carbon footprint drives me mad.

I'm waiting to see the Battle Royale between the "eat local, minimize your carbon footprint" people and the "you need to eat 18 servings of fruits and vegetables every day of your life and they need to be all different kinds of things." Because, at least in some places, those are two mutually incompatible goals: eating local may mean nothing but turnips and beets some months.

Maverick

Eh, not really tired of this one I guess.

First Dude

As much as I might like Sarah Palin for other things, I do think this phrase contributes to the erosion of decorum and respect shown public officials in this country. I think we need MORE formality, not LESS.

Bailout

I'm more fed up with the concept than I am with the word. However, it's reaching the joke stage: apparently there is an advertising campaign (and I dearly hope it is only that) where the pr0n industry claims it needs a bailout.

Wall Street/Main Street

I would be just fine if that pair of terms was never used in opposition again. The other thing is that it oversimplifies: Wall Street and Main Street are not diametrically opposed, as often the usage of the phrase suggests (I've heard it used to imply "The greedhead fat-cats on Main Street vs. Us Good People on Main Street) and the fact is, as one goes, so goes the other, eventually.

Besides, I'm suspicious of anything that can be used to foment class warfare, and I can see this being used that way.

"-Monkey" as a fashionable suffix

I guess I was not that aware that this was overused.

<3 as a symbol for "love"

Now, I kind of like this. Yes, it took me a while to figure out people weren't saying "less than 3" but I have to admit that it is kind of cute.

But then, I'm a girl. Your mileage may vary.

Icon or iconic

Yeah, I guess so. I have a bigger gripe when this term - or my personal pet hate, "Destined to become a classic!" - is applied to something that has not had a chance to prove itself yet. You do not become an icon by saying you are; a made-for-tv-movie does not become a classic because some adwriter deems it destined to be so.

Game-Changer

This has been used enough that it has become meaningless. I never liked it.

Staycation

I know there are some that love this word, but as far as I am concerned, it has two strikes against it: it is a portmanteau word, and it is a neologism.

Look, the idea of staying home over vacation is not some new burden imposed upon us by bad economic times. Do people really not remember the 70s? (Or was it just my family that skipped going on vacation a lot of years in that decade?). I grow frustrated with people who have no historical perspective acting as if this downturn is Teh Worst Evah! and there are all kinds of new insults and new deprivations we are having to face.

I also dislike the word because it sounds hokey; it sounds like someone trying to force false cheer, to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

As a matter of fact, Staying Home for Vacation, if you do it right, is really not that bad. But somehow, the term Staycation, to me, makes me sound like it's a "we're taking our medicine but smiling bravely through it but we're still going to tell you all about it, poor pitiful us" sort of thing.

Just say you're taking a VACATION, dangit.

Desperate search

Typical news hyperbole. In other words, justified in being on the list.

I do wish that a couple of the news channels (FOX is bad for this but Nancy Grace has apparently made a career of it) that expend hours and hours upon the "desperate search" for someone who is missing - usually a young cute thin white woman. Yes, it's a tragedy for the people who love that person. But it seems so exploitative and so designed to manipulate the emotions and fears of the people watching.

Not so much

You know, this one really does not bug me. Perhaps I just haven't seen it overused.

"Winner of five nominations"

See "Destined to become a classic!" above. Also - when is the last time someone "won" a nomination?

"It's that time of year again"

Yup. Especially when it's used in the same sense that "Now more than ever" was used about seven years ago: "Go out and buy or the terrorists and America-haters win!"