Calm down free speech people! I’m on your side. No one is actually banning words or phrases, unless you live in Florida and Ron Dementis is your governor.
Have you ever thought to yourself, “I am so sick of hearing that phrase!”? Sometimes it’s an acronym at work. Other times it’s a pop culture phenomenon. Often it’s a word or phrase that another generation says that makes no sense to you.
Lake Superior State University is located in Michigan’s upper peninsula, which should really be part of Wisconsin or Canada. Each year they publish a list of the top ten words that people would like to see banished.
That is exactly the kind of hard hitting research you’ll find at a “state school.” I should know, because I went to one. Harvard is busy curing cancer, but Lake Superior State University is spending public money making lists of silly phrases. They are definitely my kind of people.
I’ll give you their list with my ideas and I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions in the comments.
1. Hack: For me, this word being banished is well overdue. Haven’t we heard the phrase “life hack” constantly since they invented the internet?
2. Impact: As in the phrase “This tiny state school in Michigan is trying to make an impact with their ridiculous list.”
3. “At the end of the day…” Why is this phrase being banished now? This is something my parents generation used to say. Too little too late LSSU. At the end of the day, I’d rather not learn literary arts at Lake Superior State University.
4. Rizz, which is short for charisma. Apparently this word is all the rage with the kids these days. Although if you use the word rizz, you sound like the last person in the world with any actual rizz.
5. Slay, as in “The Phil Factor is slaying it lately!” That seems like a perfectly good use of the word because we all know that The Phil Factor has rizz.
6. Iconic: I completely agree. This is a label attached way too freely to people, events and arts that are most definitely not iconic.
7. Cringe-worthy: This is a phrase I’m actually in support of. I think it’s useful. If we take away cringe-worthy, what replaces it as a description for an act or situation that makes everyone present uncomfortable?
8. Obsessed: This word is definitely overused. It’s like people are obsessed with it. See what I did there?
9. Side hustle: Ugh. I agree. This is one of the lamest and most overused phrases of the last 15 years. It developed because of Ubering, but now gets attached to any second job. Is my blog my side hustle?
10. Wait for it… Definitely overused. and if you “wait for it” I’ll come up with an equally lame pun to hammer that point home. If you wait for it, Lake Superior State University will still never be relevant because of this list.
OK, here’s your turn. In the comments, what are the words and phrases you think should be banned? Also, if you want to contribute to Lake Superior State Universities 2025 list, you can go to: lssu.edu/banishedwords.
Happy New Year! I hope you enjoy your day off . Thanks for reading! ~Phil
Agree wholeheartedly. ( I was going to say totally agree but I think totally is on the brink.)