The Official Banished Words List Has Dropped. Period.
Program Note: I must begin today's column with an apology. I had fully intended to write and run this column yesterday, but external events precluded it, and instead I spent all afternoon under the car, performing necessary repairs. It wasn't too bad -- it was 70 degrees outside and not raining (not to rub it in, for those of you actually experiencing winter...) -- but it took all my time and energy for the day, so I was not able to post the annual "banished words" column in a timely manner. My apologies.
It's all part of the shifting-of-gears as we all transition from the holiday season back to a regular schedule. I would have said "normal" there, but I have my doubts as to how normal a year 2025 is going to prove to be.
I had intended to write a full Friday Talking Points column today as well, but there just wasn't all that much going on in the political world over the holiday break, so it would have been awfully thin. We did get some drama today, as the House of Representatives actually managed (gasp!) to elect a speaker on the first vote! This shouldn't really be an extraordinary (or even notable) thing, since that's how it always used to happen -- right up until Republicans took back political control of the chamber. Since then, the two speakers who got elected (one at the start of last session, the other one after the hotheads in the party tossed him out of his leadership job) required multiple ballots to cross the finish line.
That (sort of) happened today, in a manner of speaking. After all the members had voted, Mike Johnson had lost three Republican votes when he could only afford to lose one. So everything went into suspension, while Johnson huddled and (obviously) offered the holdouts the sun, the moon, and the stars to secure their support. Or Donald Trump called them up and browbeat them into obedience... take your pick. After the horse-trading was done, enough Republicans changed their votes (technically while still on the first round of voting) that Johnson emerged with the speaker's gavel once again. So Johnson did (in reality) require two rounds to win the speakership -- but technically it all happened on the first ballot, so he can now claim he won the first speaker's election (since the Democrats ran the place) without having to go to multiple rounds.
Even so, he obviously starts with a historically weak hand. We'll have to see what he manages to do with it. But at least the House will be functional on Monday (January 6th), the mandated day for the official Electoral College vote certification.
But we'll all have plenty of time to sit back and watch the circus in the coming days and weeks. For now, let's just revel in a last bit of (belated) holiday silliness. Oh, and one final plea: our Holiday Pledge Drive is very close to hitting our goal for the year, but still just a wee bit shy. So if anyone out there who has just been too busy or too distracted tosses a few bucks into the kitty, we'll get it over the top. Kitty? Did I say "kitty"? Maybe this will help....
(Ahem.) With that out of the way, let's get right to the banished words, shall we?
In this frozen season of the year, we look (as always) to the ice-festooned shores of Lake Superior, for the annual List Of Banished Words. The good folks at Lake Superior State University provide this annual list as a tongue-in-cheek effort to get people to stop using words and expressions that have jumped the shark to the point of now being just downright annoying (case in point: "jumped the shark").
All year long, they receive thousands of entries from many countries around the world, then they make their rulings and publish their definitive list, right as the new year dawns. As usual (given my own age), while I heartily agreed with some of these, others made me scratch my head at my own ignorance of today's vernacular. But hey, that's what search engines are for, right?
In any case, let's jump right in to this year's banished words:
Cringe
Game changer
Era
Dropped
IYKYK (If You Know, You Know)
Sorry not sorry
Skibidi
100%
Utilize
Period
Last year, "cringe-worthy" was banished. This year, it appears "cringe" is also worthy (we couldn't resist) of banishment as well. This is a specific complaint, for the slang grammatical misuse of the word, we should mention. One person defined it nicely: "Saying that someone 'caused you to cringe' or stating that 'you cringed at something' is a pretty easy and proper way to use the word. Hearing someone say 'someone is so cringe' makes me cringe!" I have to say I agree with this reasoning. Although it does make me wonder why they didn't just cover the bases by banning "so cringe," to make this more obvious. But it wasn't bad enough that I cringed at it or anything....
"Game changer," however, did make me cringe, since (being a compound noun of sorts) it really should have a hyphen ("game-changer"). But hey, I am pretty pedantic about hyphens, so maybe this is just my own personal bugaboo. I haven't personally noticed "game-changer" being overused, but see how it could get annoying pretty quickly.
I am not going to venture an opinion on "era," mostly because I am terrified of the Swifties getting bent out of shape. As one person noted: "Thanks to the name of Taylor Swift's tour, now there is an 'era' for everyone and everything! 'He's in his fatherhood era', 'She's in her pottery-making era,' etc., etc. It's overused and tiring." Again, we offer this up with no editorial comment whatsoever, because we are too chicken to do so.
I had thought the next one was already kind of obsolete in everyday slang, since it goes back decades. One person summed up the complaint with: "Books, music, and all kinds of unnecessary things are currently being 'dropped' rather than introduced, released, or offered for sale. Banished for overuse, misuse, abuse, and hurting my head when all that 'dropping' stuff lands on me!" But I do have to wonder how many people (especially the young and terminally hip) even use the term anymore, as (for me) it has a definite 1990s flavor to it.
The next one left me clueless. I don't know, in other words! Must be some sort of texting thing of which I am unaware. "IYKYK" or "If You Know, You Know" sent me to the search engines, since I had never personally had someone use this (or text it to me) and so had no idea what it even really was supposed to mean. Call me a traditionalist, but I much prefer the classic "y'know?" which would seem to convey exactly the same general idea. But then what do I know about such things? Nothing!
I was a little more aware of "sorry not sorry," but have to say the people I talk to or chat with or even text aren't usually this snotty, so it really hasn't been a problem for me. But I can easily see how it would be annoying -- even the first time. I agree with the sentiment: "it is giving people another reason to be jerks to one another," and being against that sort of thing in general, I have to concur with its banishment.
I only came across "skibidi" in the past few weeks, and (once again) had to look it up. It seems there's a whole "skibidi" thing going on out there. Feel free to look it up on your own if you haven't seen any of the plethora of videos out there, but trust me -- it's not worth it. It's nothing more than silliness gone viral, and I certainly will have no problem refraining from adding a "skibidi" to anything I write or say from now on. It's the easiest one on the list to ignore, really.
Another one I have a usage quibble with, "100%" is (to me) a too-formal citation for what is essentially the overuse of an emoji. I mean, do people ever actually say "one hundred percent" in conversation? Perhaps they do, but I think it is much more common is to just toss in a little red "100" emoji to a text message, to signify full approval (or full disapproval, or just the concept of fullness). It's easy for emojis to become overused (and thus annoying), but if I were to choose just one of them for the honor of being banished, it'd probably be a different one (full disclosure: I don't actually text that much and not to very many people at all, because I am rather a Luddite when it comes to such things).
It seems "utilize" should have been banished by now, since its use to gussy-up "use" has been around for a long time, adding nothing at all to the conversation. But this one did have the funniest nomination comment of all: "Write like you talk. Lord, I hope you don't talk like that."
And finally (where else?) comes: "Period." -- used as a standalone sentence to shut down a subject entirely. OK, sure -- gotta admit this one is pretty annoying pretty much every time I hear it. So what the heck, we'll go along with the recommendation to put it in a bottle and send it out to sea.
We have to say, entering this new political era, that 2025 is going to be a game-changer. Period. And I am sorry not sorry to say it, but this year is almost certainly going to be so cringe -- like 100% -- from when it first dropped to when it's finally over. In fact, I'm going to have to utilize all my restraint to wait until the end before I flush it right down the skibidi toilet. IYKYK.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
I now have the blocker script working in Tampermonkey on Chrome and it is an easy fix. If you've already got it set up in Chrome, then open the script and change http to https in lines 3,7, and 9. Presto! Enjoy.
If you don't have it set up, then install Tampermonkey from the Chrome Web Store. Then refer to Kick's recent comments and follow the link from there. You'll still need to make the changes to lines 3,7, and 9. You'll be glad you did.
MyVoice,
I hope all of that setting up and installing makes you happy!
Chris,
I haven't been able to find the right card ... yet. :(
We have to say, entering this new political era, that 2025 is going to be a game-changer. Period. And I am sorry not sorry to say it, but this year is almost certainly going to be so cringe -- like 100% -- from when it first dropped to when it's finally over. In fact, I'm going to have to utilize all my restraint to wait until the end before I flush it right down the skibidi toilet. IYKYK.
Hear! Hear!
I think skibidi toilet is an upcoming kids movie or something.
Of all of those words to be banished, the one I most agree with is 'utilize'. As Chris says, 9 times out of 10 'use' would work perfectly well: simpler, shorter, clearer, less pretentious, etc. But no... writers have to use longer words to sound smarter, or something. I really don't get, and am very glad it has been banished.
It has been banished - right? I mean, this list has the force of law and custom, surely. Hope I'm right about this, and that Chris hasn't misled me.
Also, MyVoice on [1], thanks for the link to the Chrome version of the Tampermonkey app that will allow blocking unwanted posters from showing up on my view of this comments thread. If I can make it work, I will be a much happier camper in Weigantia than I am now. Again, thanks.
@cw,
since you have a tradition of referring to this list every year, I vote that the new site include a link to the banished word archive
JL
[6] John M
If you have any questions, please ask. Happy campers are a good thing.
campers can be fickle sorts...
hello muddah, hello faddah
Beta Trump is whining about the half mast flags for Jimmy Carter. Very cringe. Maybe somebody could fly that giant baby Donny balloon from London for him.
[9] nypoet22
Oh, ha ha. I grew up on "My Son, the Folk Singer" and can still sing most of those songs from memory. My sibs and I played it over and over and over. Thanks for the memories.
[9] nypoet22
Oh, yeah, and "My Son, the Nut"
JL,
I realize you don't believe this, but I do not hate Donald Trump at all,
You are absolutely right.. I don't believe this..
All the petty and childish personal attacks??
The fact that you really do hate President Trump is proven beyond ANY shadow of a doubt..
Which is ironic because, prior to Jun of 2015, ya'all Democrats LOVED Donald Trump...
Which proves that all of this hate is nothing but political bigotry.. Pure & simple...
but you can't ad-hominem away the NIH study (and countless others that show how many hundreds of thousands of Americans Donald killed), because it is based on real facts.
Fauci's NIH is a bigger joke than Basement Biden's FBI.. And THAT really says something..
The fact is, Fauci's NIH totally frak'ed up the COVID response.. It was only President Trump's bold leadership that saved tens of thousands of American lives that Fauci's and NIH's and Biden's incompetence would have killed.
It's a well documented FACT that the VAST MAJORITY of COVID death's happened on Basement Biden's watch and those tens of thousands of deaths is simply more blood on Basement Biden's hand...
"These are the facts of the case. And they are undisputed."
-Captain Smilin' Jack Ross, A FEW GOOD MEN
when you post some facts, rather than the opinions that you label facts, maybe there will be something worth responding to.
Unlike you who only posted Democrat "science"/propaganda, I did post a PLETHORA of facts...
Like the fact that it was President Trump's bold leadership in pushing Operation Warp Speed* to get the Trump Vaccine released in a heretofore unheard of time frame and save tens of millions of American lives... Lives that were lost due to Basement Biden's and NIH's incompetence..
ALL the facts I posted are well documented..
But, like Bashit Troll, you ignore those facts because they are inconvenient to your subjective reality.. Your "truth"..
*- We have a President who is an avid TREKKER!!! Not like the bonehead Odumbo who went on and on about the "Jedi Mindmeld"... :epic eyeroll: That fact alone should make President Trump appealing to Weigantians..
But I get it.. I really do. Ya'all hate on President Trump more than anything else.. Much like Victoria and her alleged "dead brother". She hates President Trump more than she loved her alleged "dead brother".. But her alleged "dead brother" WAS useful to Victoria as a Sympathy Troll, so Victoria got use out of her "dead brother" that way.. :eyeroll:
Liz,
I hope all of that setting up and installing makes you happy!
I know, right!?? :eyeroll:
Imagine that these luser Democrats actually brag about being total slaves to their ideology..
Funny thing is, the reason people stopped using that tamper monkey script was because it was malware that sent all the info on the installed computer to a dark web site...
That's why people here stopped using it and that is why the creator of the script quit coming to Weigantia.. He got found out...
Of course, Victoria Troll will swear up and done that the script doesn't do anything harmful.. But she is lying..
Just like she lied about getting a new car and just like she lied about her dead brother...
But hay.. Makes me no never mind.. :D
My gods!!!! Token DEI Hire Headboard Has Been Hooker Harris can't even recite the Pledge Of Allegiance without screwing it up!!!
https://twitter.com/i/status/1875246209860038886
THIS is the moron ya'all voted MOST CHARISMATIC!!???
BBBBBBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Like the Democrat Party itself... Headboard Harris is a joke... :eyeroll:
Funny thing is, the reason people stopped using that tamper monkey script was because it was malware that sent all the info on the installed computer to a dark web site...
Total and complete bullshit. You are just butt hurt people don't want to read your repetitive garbage. The code is linked and not particularly long. Point out this malware...
[16] BashiBazouk
But, but, but, doesn't one of those amendments everyone is always carrying on about guarantee an audience for anything anyone wants to say in the public square?
only if you're rich.
Speaking of rich, what is up with Musk? Advocating for a far right extremist party in Germany, drug fueled posting to get King Charles III to dissolve parliament, messing with Canadian politics. Not to mention his talks with Putin and Xi. At what point does the Logan Act kick in?
[16] BashiBazouk
Agreed. Just another lie that the needy pervert troll felched out of some hole and puked up here.
It's a good example of why nobody should believe anything that it ever posts. There's no downside to blocking it.
Why are you all reading something that you have blocked and then commenting on it - isn't that kind of like defeating the purpose? Just curious. :-)
[21] You presume too much, but I would call it an expanding discussion regarding CW's pervert troll blocker idea.
That's fair enough. What do you think of my idea, expanding on JL's thought the other day?
All the petty and childish personal attacks??
by me? when? where? can you quote one from something I've written, or provide a link?
Are you talkin' to me?
That was me, trying to be funny, again.
Why are you all reading something that you have blocked and then commenting on it - isn't that kind of like defeating the purpose? Just curious. :-)
Seems like they are responding to me and I access the net on too many computers/devices to install the script...
Oh, I think they just like to talk about blocking people. They can't not look, in other words. Heh.
You could help them out, though, Bashi by not commenting on something posted by someone they wish to block. Right?
You mean blatant misinformation about the blocking script? No, that needs to be called out...
So, you're going to be spending your time here calling out all of the misinformation? Good luck.
Michale,
The fact is, Fauci's NIH totally frak'ed up the COVID response...
That is just the kind of non-serious comment that should be visible for all to see as it reflects poorly only on the one tapping it out.
yes Liz, i wrote that special just for you.
When the yearly banished words finally dropped, I could not help but cringe that their skibidi list of terms wasn’t remotely a game changer (sorry not sorry) as it appears to me to utilize numerous words and phrases from the texting era that IYKYK, and if you don’t know or don’t do a lot of texting, you flat out, period, full stop needn't cease and desist because there's 100% no need to stop what you never actually started.
One and done!
Nice work with what they provided, CW. :)
MyVoice
1
I now have the blocker script working in Tampermonkey on Chrome and it is an easy fix. If you've already got it set up in Chrome, then open the script and change http to https in lines 3,7, and 9. Presto! Enjoy.
It took me longer to read and respond to the awesome post than to perform the fix, and it's working. I can also confirm the fix totally works in Edge as well. Thank you.
You'll be glad you did.
You 100% dropped a total game changer. Period. :)
Elizabeth Miller
2
MyVoice,
I hope all of that setting up and installing makes you happy!
It's literally a fix that takes seconds or an install that takes maybe two minutes. :)
Elizabeth Miller
21
Explain that wee small little unambiguous simple three-letter English words are confusing to you without actually saying it.
Why are you all reading something that you have blocked and then commenting on it - isn't that kind of like defeating the purpose?
Nailed it!
[23] I must have missed it, but if I were a bettin" man, I'd bet that it was pro-troll.
[28] Oh, I think they just like to talk about blocking people. They can't not look, in other words. Heh.
Since it was BashiBazouk and I talking and you wrote that to him, it would seem that they refers to me. They is not my preferred pronoun.
I assure you that I do not look. Life is way too short to read pervert troll spam.
[32] That is just the kind of non-serious comment that should be visible for all to see as it reflects poorly only on the one tapping it out.
This is the type of non-serious pro-troll nonsense that damages your credibility. It does not post any original ideas. It spams talking points and plagiarizes whole columns from the cancervative entertainment complex.
Nobody needs to see any of it here when the original source is available to all of us. In addition, my belief is that the vast majority of those people who visit this blog could hardly have a lower opinion of that incestuous felcher. It's amusing that you think something it's done a thousand times could "reflect poorly" on it.
Since it was BashiBazouk and I talking and you wrote that to him, it would seem that they refers to me. They is not my preferred pronoun.
JFC, if the shoe fits ...
Heh. It would seem that each of us thinks we are the center of the universe here at CW.com. That makes me laugh out loud.
And, as for you, JL, thanks for putting a stop to the personal attacks and insults. I appreciate it. Of course, I haven't made too many comments on the topics that have preceded them, but still ...
JFC,
Wait a second. You think my [32] is pro-troll? How so?
Sounds like I may need to start up the CW Sunday Night Music and Dance Festival again.
Too bad I've learned that most of the officially uploaded music on YouTube has been pitch-"corrected" or auto-tuned and I won't any longer post links to favourite songs that have been so destroyed. :(
By the way and speaking of blog growth, anybody passing by here and taking the time to read this latest comments section will quickly realize that this is NOT the place to be spending any of their precious time.
We can't even have some fun with banished words. It's just sad.
[23] I must have missed it, but if I were a bettin" man, I'd bet that it was pro-troll.
You would have lost that bet. It was actually pro-email and anti-comments sections, altogether. That is the only way to solve the problem we have here, I'm sorry to say.
No comment section would certainly be the end, but I would call it pro-troll.
[44} I used a banished word.
I must have missed it.
[21] Elizabeth Miller
Why are you all reading something that you have blocked and then commenting on it - isn't that kind of like defeating the purpose? Just curious. :-)
That you brought up this point indicates that you have some realization that one can do this. What, exactly, is your issue with choice? This script has three options: expanded, collapsed, or hidden. Expanded is what someone without the script sees; collapsed shows the commenter's name, but not the comment text, so it is very easy to scroll past a bunch of long entries; and hidden just shows gaps in the comment numbers.
At any given moment, a script user can opt for a different view and get it with a single click. It's clean, simple, and has utterly no effect on what you personally see in the comments section. What's the problem?
[44] Elizabeth Miller
By the way and speaking of blog growth, anybody passing by here and taking the time to read this latest comments section will quickly realize that this is NOT the place to be spending any of their precious time.
Fascinating that you would make a number of comments today on this topic and then bemoan that it might keep others away. Given that the comments some of us are sometimes blocking are all off-topic, are there now rules about off-topic comments I should know about? Is consistency the hobgoblin of little minds? Asking for a friend: Ralph Waldo Emerson.
[35] Kick
You're welcome; just being servicy here. Utilize it to your heart's content.
@liz,
sorry not sorry. period.
JL
MyVoice
1
I need a little tech support, please.
I’m using an iPhone and already have both Chrome and Safari already loaded on my cell. When I clicked on the first link I was offered the opportunity to “display on DESKTOP” and nothing else. I selected it and was informed that it’s downloaded onto my DESKTOP. Which doesn’t exist on an iPhone SE.
I also copied Chazzbrown’s whole script but have no where to put it.
So I’m stuck.
51
Years
And when I went to the Tampermonkey website it wanted a dollar to let me proceed, which makes me wonder if I’m on the right track.
[52] MtnCaddy
This being Apple, you have to buy Tampermonky for $2.99. I took a quick look in the app store, though, and I find alternatives like Userscripts and Stay for Safari, among others, that will probably nag you until you buy, but that are initially free. Pick one and install it.
Next, we're in territory I haven't explored, but it appears that an app called Paper: Sketch, Draw & Create will enable you to paste the script you've copied into a file and save it. There are probably other apps that will do that, too. If you've gone this route, make the http to https changes to lines 3, 7, and 9 and save the file with a name that ends in ".user.js". This indicates it is a JavaScript user script. What you can do instead is go back to the source when you've downloaded the app you are going to put it into.
Your new script manager will have an option to create a new script. Select that option, delete anything already in the text area that opens and paste the script into that. Then, if you haven't already done it, make the http to https changes to lines 3, 7, and 9.
Finally, you might have to look for an option to enable the script. You will need to look for that only if you did all of the above and don't see a change in how the comments look.
Please let me know how this goes for you.
[52] MtnCaddy UPDATE:
Call the file anything you want, if you are saving it to your phone. We're copying out the content, so you can call it whatever you like.
My Voice,
As usual, I am going to keep doing what I can to improve the quality of these comments sections and I would only hope that everyone else here do the same and not focus, ad nauseam, on the same thing, over and over and over again.
And, if there is a problem here, I am confident that Chris will remedy it, one way or another, while the rest of us engage intelligently and respectfully with his columns and with each other while we are here visiting in his house. Is that too much to hope for?
I still look forward to the day when we all live up to the excellence of the headlining pieces themselves and add our related comments without the wholly unnecessary personal attacks and subtle insults that seem to inform every single response these days.
@myvoice/caddy,
irrespective of whether or not it's valuable to be able to block someone's posts, it seems a bit cringe to spend energy on it now, when a skibidi site rebuild may soon get dropped and render such efforts unable to utilize. why change the game now, when another game changer and a brand new era are 100% imminent? IYKYK, but (sorry not sorry) I just don't. period.
JL
[57] nypoet22
I'm still in my helpful era. When I know I have a game changer, I'm going to try 100% to help. Sorry not sorry. Period.
Elizabeth
56
Cho’mo Michale is the root of all the unpleasantness here in Weigantia. He doesn’t add anything of value because he can’t do any more than regurgitate objectively false right-wing talking points. He also acts his shoe size and not the number on his driver’s license.
I’m going to give Chris time to drop his new and improved website that ought to enable troll blocking. If it doesn’t have that feature I’ll spend time and money adopting the Chazzbrown solution.
Whatever floats your boat, Caddy - Happy New Year!