‘Echo chamber,’ ‘town hall meeting’ make this year’s ‘banished’ list

DETROIT — Yo u , s i r, o r ma’am): Focus, if you will, on a historic, on flfleek listicle containing words nominated for bigly banishment. But don’t convene a town hall meeting or get your dandruffff up in the echo chamber over them.

Northern Michigan’s Lake Superior State Universit y on S at urday re l e a s e d i t s 42nd annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness.

T h e t o n g u e - i n - c h e e k , non-binding list comes from suggestions to the school. It includes “you, sir,” “focus,” “town hall meeting,” “historic,” “echo chamber,” “on flfleek,” “bigly,” “listicle” and “get your dandruffff up,” an apparent substitute for “dander.”

The others were “Frankenfruit,” “bête noire,” “guesstimate,” “ghost,” “dadbod,” “selfifie drone,” “manicured,” “post-truth,” “disruption” and “831” — a texting encryption of “I love you” (eight letters, three words, one meaning).

The divisive 2016 election inflfluenced nominations, and was reflflected in the inclusion of “bigly” and “post-truth.”

“Bigly ” also made Merriam-Webster’s Top 10 for 2016. President-elect Donald Trump was fond this year of saying “big league” but making it sound like “bigly,” an archaic adverb or adjective dating to around 1400.

“Post-truth,” a term sometimes used to describe the current political climate, is Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year.

John Shibley, Lake Superior State spokesman and list-compiler in chief, said “lots of political vitriol” came in thi s year, with people wanting to ban “President Trump,” “Crooked Hillary” and “Electoral College.” Shibley said he made an editorial decision not to wade into that swamp.”