Every year, the Lake Superior State University releases its list of words and phrases it believes should be banished from the English language. This year marked the 37th in its culling of phrases deemed hackneyed and overused. “Amazing” topped the list of submissions as one of the most overused adjectives in the English language. Other submissions included “man cave,” “baby bump,” “ginormous” and “the new normal.”
Jim Eisenmann from Wisconsin called for politicians to drop the phrase “win the future.” “On its very face, it’s an empty, meaningless phrase,” he said. “It basically says that anyone who opposes anything meant to ‘win the future’ must want to ‘lose the future,’ which is highly unlikely.” Some of the phrases have grown to have irritating connotations, such as “baby bump.” “I’m tired of a pregnancy being reduced to a celebrity accessory. Or worse, when less-than-six-pack abs are suspected of being one,” a respondent said.
