‘Covfefe’ and other words to banish in the new year
Lake Superior State unveils 2017’s most misused and overused terms
DETROIT — Let me ask you this: Would a story that unpacks a list of tiresome words and phrases be impactful or a nothing burger? Worse, could it just be fake news?
Northern Michigan’s Lake Superior State University on Sunday released its 43rd annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness. The tongue-incheek, nonbinding list of 14 words or phrases comes from thousands of suggestions to the Sault Ste. Marie school.
This year’s list includes “let me ask you this,” “unpack,” “impactful,” “nothing burger,” “tons,” “dish,” “drill down,” “let that sink in,” and the top vote-getter, “fake news.”
The others are “preowned,” “on boarding/ off boarding,” “hot water heater,” “gig economy” and the Trumpian Twitter typo “covfefe.”
Though the list contains a little political flavor, Lake Superior State spokesman John Shibley said he had expected more given the highly divisive 2016 election and a year of deepening divisions in government and the U.S. electorate.
“It wasn’t as focused on politics in a very dirty sense,” he said. “Most of the nominations were well thought through ... considering how the year was.”
As evidence, he points to “fake news,” which garnered 500 to 600 votes. The phrase has been leveled against entirely fabricated reporting, stories that contain errors or inaccuracies, and those with a critical tone. It has even been wielded as a cudgel against entire news networks. It was also found to be the second-most annoying word or phrase used by Americans in an annual Marist College poll, behind “whatever.”
“I think a lot of people know fake news when they see it. It can be propaganda, it can be satire,” Shibley said. “It’s used deliberately to paint a certain story or notion as not being true.”
While some words are perennial nominees, others really speak to a particular time and may soon lose relevance. Shibley said “covfefe” — contained in a fragmented tweet sent from President Trump’s account May 31 — became shorthand for a social media mistake.
“It’s the ‘pet rock’ of this year’s list,” Shibley said, referring to the fad product born and banished in the 1970s.
Lake Superior State and Marist have company in tracking and trumpeting mass word usage.
“Youthquake,” defined as “a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people,” is Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year. Oxford lexicographers said there was a fivefold increase in use of the term — coined a halfcentury ago by then-Vogue editor Diana Vreeland — from 2016 to 2017. The word has been used to describe youth support for Britain’s Labor Party and the election of thirtysomething leaders in France and New Zealand.
Merriam-Webster’s 2017 word of the year is “feminism.” Lookups increased 70% over 2016 on MerriamWebster.com and spiked several times after key events, such as the Women’s March on Washington in January.
Another Michigan school takes the opposite approach: Detroit’s Wayne State University attempts through its Word Warriors campaign to exhume worthy words that have fallen out of favor. This year’s list included “blithering,” “gauche” and “mugwump,” which refers to a person who remains aloof or independent — especially from party politics.