Lake Superior State University has released its annual list of terms it argues should be banished in 2022.
The argument is that many of the phrases are used way too often in everyday language. The list of ten includes phrases such as “at the end of the day,” “asking for a friend,” and “circle back.”
Peter Szatmary is communications director at Lake Superior State University. He said some of the misused terms to be banished have come out of the pandemic, including the overused phrase, “new normal.”
“This one might be the most poignant out of the list of 10, where the list of 10 is a bit more tongue in cheek. We're two years into a pandemic of global proportions. This normal is no longer new.”
For people who had to spend a lot of time in online meetings, one of the most overused phrases was, “You’re on mute.”
Other phrases making the banished list were “no worries,” “deep dive,” “circle back,” and “supply chain.”
“Our number one ranking this year was, “Wait. What?” And it’s an imperative question that just doesn’t work,” Szatmary said, adding that the nominators and judges found it's trying to express astonishment, misunderstanding, or disbelief, but not really.
You can find the list here and the reasons why they're being banished by LSSU.
There were 1250 nominations to be considered by LSSU’s English Department. Ten made the banished list. That being said, no worries, at the end of the day, they'll make a deep dive and circle back for more. Wait. What?
