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School's list says 'awesome' isn't

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 1, 2007

DETROIT - Lake Superior State University on Sunday released its annual "List of Words and Phrases Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness."

The Sault Ste. Marie school in the Upper Peninsula has been compiling the list since 1976 to attract publicity.

Sixteen words or phrases were selected by a university committee from more than 4,500 nominations.

Criticism was piled on the media's practice of combined celebrity names such as "TomKat" or "Brangelina." One said, "It's so annoying, idiotic and so lame and pathetic that it's 'lamethetic.' "

Real estate listings were targeted for overuse of "boast."

The university's word watchers also had no use for "truthiness," the word popularized by Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert. It was selected as the word that best summed up 2006 in an online survey by dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster.

The list is closing in on its 1,000th banishment. And despite the university's vigilance, university spokesman Tom Pink said he's not aware that any dictionaries have followed its advice.

"Sometimes people write us and tell us, 'This isn't working,' " Pink said. "I tell them we need an enforcement division."

'Banished' words and phrases

-Gitmo

-Combined celebrity names

-Awesome

-Gone/went missing

-Pwn or pwned, a misspelling of "own" used by online video gamers

-Now playing in theaters

-We're pregnant

-Undocumented alien

-Armed robbery/drug deal gone bad

-Truthiness

-Ask your doctor

-Chipotle

-i-anything

-Search

-Healthy food

-Boasts

[Last modified January 1, 2007, 00:28:44]