Strike the amazing baby bump, banished words list says

As a journalist – and an avid reader – I love words. I spend a lot of time with them, and I enjoy putting them on a page, marking them up, and reworking them to convey the facts and thoughts I want to share with others.

Still, there are some words and phrases that drive me nuts. For example, I cringe when people take words that are verbs, and make them into nouns. A recent trend I’ve heard is people saying, “I have an ask out,” when what they mean is that they’ve posed a question. The question is what’s out – ask is the action used to put it out there.

I am comforted by the fact that I’m not the only person in the world who ponders such things or sounds off about them. The fine folks at Lake Superior State University, in fact, offers a fun platform for people to weigh in on overused, misused or nonsensical words – or maybe words that aren’t actual words – that should be stricken from our collective vocabularies.

The university’s 2012 List of Banished Words, like many of its predecessors, is a good roundup.

Let’s take a look at a few of the entries on this year’s list, shall we?

• Amazing – This word received the most nominations. Based on the nominations, the reasoning seems to be that the word is used so much, it has lost its meaning. I can’t argue with that. How many times have we all heard people say something tastes amazing or that a new movie is amazing or that they feel amazing, and on and on. It’s not that those things can’t be amazing, but it’s gotten to the point that if we were to be believed, everything in the world falls into that category.

• Baby bump – A cutesy – or annoying – phrase used to describe a pregnant woman. What’s wrong with saying pregnant? And, frankly, there are pregnant women whose bodies expand well-beyond bump, so that “baby mountain” might be more appropriate. Good riddance to the bump, I say.

• The new normal – This is a phrase we hear a lot in business news, particularly when we’re looking at downward trends. It’s almost as if people think directing focus to “the new normal” – i.e. where we are, then it will prevent us from looking back at where we used to be – and how far we have to go to get to that point. Usually, the reality that brings about usage of this phrase isn’t great, so why would we want to focus on it?

• Man cave – Another good entry, appropriately pinpointed due to overuse in home design shows, commercials and sitcoms, to the point that it has become part of everyday use. Why must men be relegated to a “cave” in their home? It almost suggests that men are too uncouth to warrant usage of other parts of the home. The concept is fine, but why not call it a den?

• Ginormous – To this entry, I say, “Yes, please.” There are so many words out there. Do we really need to take two words with similar meanings – gigantic and enormous – and morph them into this word, which to me always sounds cartoonish and unsophisticated. I think not.

Take a look at the  2012 List of Banished Words. And if there are words that aren’t on the list – and you think they should be, there’s good news. LSSU accepts nominations for the list year-round.

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