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The Best Worst Words of 2013

The school that comes on my radar exactly once a year, Lake Superior State University, today released its 39th annual List of Words to be Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness. Or, as I’ve renamed it, the Best Worst Words of 2013.

LSSU releases on New Year’s Eve a list of words compiled from a list of nominations submitted mostly through its website and Facebook page. The list is closing in on its 1,000th word banishment.

“Banishment” is, of course, merely suggested. Language is a fluid thing, and also personal and ephemeral.

Why does one word culturally ignite while another does not? For example, “selfie” is the number-one worst word, according to the LSSU list. Yet my inability to make “us-ie” happen—to describe a group selfie—is one of my biggest disappointments of 2013.

Stop Trying to Make Fetch Happen

Here’s the LSSU list with its explanations (in quotes), some of them with my edits or explanations (not in quotes), followed by a few I think the judges missed:

Selfie
Because a self-snapped picture doesn’t need a name all its own beyond “photograph.”

Twerk/Twerking
“Bob of Tempe, Ariz. says he responds, ‘T’werk,’ when asked where he is headed on Monday mornings.”

Hashtag
“Is anyone really willing to let this one go in 2014? #goodluckwiththat”

_______ on steriods
“New! Improved! Steroidal!”

____Ageddon
____Pocalpyse
“Shortening Armageddon and Apocalypse into two suffixes”—as in sale-ageddon or snow-pocalypse.

Intellectually/morally bankrupt
“Used by members of each political party when describing members of the other.”

Fan base
Classic word inflation: “Why use one word when apparently two are twice as better?”

Also on the LSSU list are:

Adversity (When applied to sports. Which means it isn’t real adversity, after all.)
Obamacare
Twittersphere
Mister Mom (Why is it still odd for a man to take care of his children?)
T-Bone (As used to describe any kind of collision)

More worst words of 2013 I would’ve included:

Impactful
A terrible word that many people in business and education like to toss around to describe things that make an impact. I’ve been stabbing this word in the heart for years. But it keeps rising again, shaking off the dirt and appearing in marketing content near you. I can’t fathom why.

Leverage
What’s wrong with “use”? “Influence”? “Enhance”? “Harness”? Nothing. So use them instead. This word is the poster child of words that began life as nouns and (perplexingly) find themselves used as verbs.

Amazeballs/Awesomesauce/Fantabulous/Ginormous/Chillaxin’. Frankenwords, all of them. One exception is “awesomesaucenessivity,” coined by my friend Lee Odden in his Christmas card to me, because it’s so weird it’s impossible to look away.

Adorbs
This isn’t mine, actually. I got this from the Huffington Post when Chel Wolverton pointed it out to me. From HuffPo: “Are you 14 and talking about your BFF’s new Harry Styles iPhone case? If the answer to my first question was yes and the answer to my second question was no, then this word needs to stop coming out of your mouth.”

Listicle
Apparently an article based around a list. To me it sounds like an inventory of testicles. Ew.

Humblebrag
Because there is no such thing. You’re either bragging or you’re humble. Pick one.

What would you include as your favorite worst words of 2013?

Filed Under: Annarchy, Politics & Society, Pop Culture, Writing

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. John Eckman says

    December 31, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    Farticle, for a fake news article used by affiliate spammers. Like listicle, but worse.

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      December 31, 2013 at 1:44 pm

      You’re right, John. Much, much worse.

      Reply
  2. Chel says

    December 31, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    Word on Mister Mom.

    I never understood how humblebrag became a word. You’re bragging, admit it.

    Happy to help you find another word to include in your adorbs list.

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      January 2, 2014 at 1:42 pm

      You’re totes awesomesauce & fantabulous!

      Reply
  3. David B. Thomas says

    December 31, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    I totes have a lump on my listicle.

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      January 2, 2014 at 1:43 pm

      That’s the ultimate humblebrag.

      Reply
  4. Jon Aston says

    December 31, 2013 at 9:38 pm

    Ann, I so love reading you. I don’t do it anywhere often enough.

    I feel compelled to defend the word “Leverage”, so long as users elaborate on how their reader can use what they already have to can get more of what they want. None of the alternative suggestions you’ve offered mean quite the same thing.

    With all of the love, respect and admiration in the world – I wish you and yours the happiest of happy new years.

    XOJA

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      January 2, 2014 at 1:45 pm

      Well, as I said above, Jon… language is entirely personal and clearly banishment of any word is entirely at the discretion of the individual! Happy new year to you, too — may you leverage 2014 to its fullest! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Jamie Wallace says

    January 2, 2014 at 12:53 pm

    I was horrified when I learned that “selfie” was the word of the year. I don’t even want to think about what that says about us. Navel gazing has never been such a predominant element of our society.

    Love to hate the words on your list & would also like to add “whatever” (when used in its usual dismissive and contemptuous way) and “juicy” (when used to inappropriately describe things like webinars and blog posts and such). Just NO.

    🙂

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      January 2, 2014 at 1:48 pm

      LOL to “juicy”… and you’ll like this, too, Jamie, I bet:

      4 Reasons ‘Viral’ Content Stopped Mattering in 2013

      http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-reasons-viral-content-stopped-mattering-in-2013

      Reply
  6. jocelyn says

    January 2, 2014 at 1:23 pm

    Pretty much anything ending in “ize.” Optimize and maximize just. wont. die.

    I also hate leverage as a verb. The other day I was in a meeting where one dude used the word SEVEN times in two minutes. I almost leveraged some Xanax.

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      January 2, 2014 at 1:49 pm

      LOL….! I could endorse that idea. 😀

      Reply
  7. Breanne says

    January 2, 2014 at 1:46 pm

    Humblebrag makes more sense if you consider that it’s usually an accusation, not something used to describe yourself. Humblebragging isn’t something people consciously intend to do, most of the time. It’s something a person gets called out on.

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      January 2, 2014 at 1:51 pm

      Yeah…. I can see that. As an accusation it makes sense. But unfortunately I’ve seen some folks using it as an excuse of sorts, when they are bragging about something while feigning humility. That makes no sense to me….

      Reply
  8. Higher Ed Head says

    January 2, 2014 at 1:53 pm

    Adorbs is the new presh (precious).
    Leverage is the new utilize.
    Listicle is just wrong.

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      January 2, 2014 at 2:50 pm

      You win my daily favorite award for this line: “Adorbs is the new presh.” 😀

      Reply
      • Higher Ed Head says

        January 2, 2014 at 3:15 pm

        Truly honored!

        Reply
    • Sara says

      January 2, 2014 at 4:51 pm

      hahaha! Nice![[

      Reply
  9. Adam Levine says

    January 2, 2014 at 2:31 pm

    Hi Ann,

    Funny about the word Impactful. I used it in a email or blog or somewhere and of course it was squiggled. So I spent 20 minutes trying to search for it and found out it really was not a word. I used it anyway. To see this post is pretty cool. Happy New Year! Best~Adam

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      January 2, 2014 at 2:51 pm

      TRUTH! It is NOT a word!! THANK YOU for that!

      Reply
  10. Joanna Young says

    January 2, 2014 at 2:34 pm

    Ann, salient and amusing article, as usual. Thanks!

    Thoughts…..

    – “Don’t feed the trolls” > Overused and a bit ‘adorbs’…..but admit I like it.
    – “Haters” > Sometimes misused to describe any person or group who disagrees. Thinking differently isn’t hating.
    – Not a word or phrase, but seems to be a lot of strong pro/con feelings about the new practice of naming winter storm events. e.g. current storm #Hercules
    – And re: “leverage” > Guilty as charged.

    Reply
    • Ann Handley says

      January 2, 2014 at 2:52 pm

      I think we have the Weather Channel’s content marketing efforts to thank for #Hercules (and the storms like him!)

      Reply
  11. Glynis Crawford says

    January 3, 2014 at 9:29 am

    How about totes? With anything. Unless you’re talking about a bag you carry, mostly on vacation. Although you are totes presh! Put that on your listicle and well, do something with it. Happy New Year!

    Reply
  12. Vicky Global says

    January 4, 2014 at 12:26 am

    “Twerk/Twerking”…I remember Miley Cyrus with this word. Uggh!

    Reply
  13. Xien says

    January 6, 2014 at 4:34 am

    Social Media has greatly influenced the birth of new words nowadays. I just don’t understand why some people make slang words.

    Reply
  14. Doug says

    January 8, 2014 at 8:24 pm

    Hashtags – bad enough when written but impossible to accept when spoken i.e. #I’msopissedoffwithpeoplesayingthingswith#infrontofthem

    Reply
  15. Blair says

    January 9, 2014 at 5:10 pm

    Love this and the delicious mission it stands for.

    Reply
  16. Maria says

    January 10, 2014 at 7:28 pm

    I work in the IT industry, and this word seems to be used a lot this year: “automagically.” As in, “We get your systems up and running automagically.”

    Reply
  17. Ali says

    January 11, 2014 at 11:14 am

    Obvs.

    Is this just for those who can’t be bothered to find put how to spell obviously?

    I’m getting old.

    Reply
  18. Laura says

    January 16, 2014 at 12:33 pm

    My favorite line here: “words that began life as nouns and (perplexingly) find themselves used as verbs”

    I’m a real hater where that habit is concerned.

    Reply
  19. Lizzie says

    April 30, 2015 at 6:18 pm

    Awesome post.

    my blog – Business Coachin (Lizzie)

    Reply

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