Out they go
Banished Words List 2017 from Lake Superior State University
You, sir - Hails from a more civilised era when duels were the likely outcome of disagreements. Today, we suffer on-line trolls and internet
shaming.
Focus - Good word, but overused when concentrate or look at would work fine. See 1983's banishment of, We Must Focus Our Attention.
Town Hall meeting - Candidates seldom debate in town halls anymore.
Post-truth - To paraphrase the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, we are entitled to our own opinions but not to our own facts.
Guesstimate - When guess and estimate are never enough.
831 - A texting encryption of, I love you: 8 letters, 3 words, 1 meaning. Never encrypt or abbreviate one's love.
Manicured - As in a manicured lawn. Golf greens are the closest grass comes to being manicured.
Echo chamber - Lather, rinse, and repeat. After a while, everything sounds the same.
Ghost - To abruptly end communication, especially on social media. Is it rejection angst, or is this word really as overused as word-banishment nominators contend? Either way, our committee feels the pain.
Dadbod - The flabby opposite of a chiselled-body male ideal. Should not empower dads to pursue a sedentary
lifestyle.
Selfie drone - In what could be an ominous development, the selfie - an irritating habit of constantly photographing and posting oneself to social media - is being handed off to a flying camera. How can this end badly?
Frankenfruit - Another food group co-opted by "frankenfood". Not to be confused with other forms of genetically modified language.
Fake picture that went viral #3.
This fake photo is relatively new, having started circulating on the internet since 2014. The picture was first published in a satirical article on the website The Lightly Braised Turnip where it was claimed that the giant squid grew to 49m due to radiation from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.