Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Federal Judiciary Blogs -> Supreme Dicta

Federal Judiciary

: Supreme Dicta

Words of the year

Leave it to uppity English professors to come up with a list of the most useless words of 2007. Academics at Lake Superior State University compile an annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness. Amongst this year's winners: "surge," "organic," and the phrases "under the bus" and "it is what it is."

First of all, who the hell calls our language Queen's English? We whooped the British. Twice. I'm not saying we should Americanize the name of our language, but we should at least leave the monarchy out of it. Second, the title of this list is 14 words long. Isn't that pretty useless when three or four words will do?

But I will admit that most of these words and phrases are pretty empty. Organic means carbon-based. Remember sleeping through organic chemistry in college? So unless your diet consists of nothing but salt, you're eating organic food.

Why am I ranting about this list? Because the creator of the list received a letter from an Arizona Supreme Court justice who is such a fan of the list that he forbids all attorneys to use them in his presence. OK, so you're not a fan of "surge." Let's replace it with words like: "arbitrary," "capricious," and "tyrannical." Is that better, your honor?

While we are on the subject, check out the folks at Merriam-Webster, who just came out with their top words of 2007. The winner is a word that likely will make the grammar Nazis at Lake Superior State cringe: w00t. It is a word coined by Internet-savy young people and it is an expression of joy.

Other good words on that list: quixotic (RIP Robert Goulet) and sardoodledom. Not sure what this last one means? Sardoodledom: mechanically contrived plot structure and stereotyped or unrealistic characterization in drama, see, e.g., Desperate Housewives.

Full post as published by Supreme Dicta on January 02, 2008 (boomark / email).