Banish the Words: A List of Overused Terms

Our journalistic friends at The Guardian published this piece on words that grated in 2008. Here's a portion of the article with which we wholeheartedly agree.

Lake Superior State University in Michigan has unveiled its 34th annual list of words that should be banished from our vocabularies this year, a selection of which we set out below.

First Dude: "Skateboard" English is not the appropriate way to refer to the spouse of a high ranking public official," says one commentator on the university's website.

Maverick: The word has been left so battered and bruised by the assaults perpetrated on it by John McCain and Sarah Palin that it might be a kindness to leave it in peace to recover for a while.

Bailout: Because it only ever seems to apply to impossibly rich people and institutions who have screwed up, and never to the much poorer people they have screwed over.

Staycation: Banishment of this seems harsh. Staycation is a succinct, witty way of labelling the new trend for staying in your home country at holiday time, but it is suffering for enshrining both green and economic concerns, which as we have seen above, is a sure way to tick people off.

The Guardian features desk collectively wishes to call for "going forward" to be stricken for ever from the record.