Lake Superior State College surveys how people in the U.S. used English in the past year. Its 33d annual "List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness" selected from nominated words sent from around the world.
The List was born on Dec. 31, 1975 when former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and his colleagues sought "to banish overused words and phrases and issue a list on New Year's Day. Much to the delight of language enthusiasts everywhere, the list has stayed the course into a fourth decade." How many people resolve to spruce their English usage according to the insights of the List?About perfect storm David Hollis of Hamilton, New York, said
Hands off book titles as cheap descriptors!About decimate Dane of Flowery Branch, Georgia, observed,
The word is so overused and misused, people use it when they should be saying "annihilate." It's so bad that now there are two definitions, the real one and the one that has taken over like a weed.The complete 2008 List is available at the university's website.
_______________________________________________________________
Wiki-image of Copper Harbor Lighthouse is in the public domain.
No comments:
Post a Comment