For the past four decades, at the start of every new year Lake Superior State University takes public suggestions, then publishes a list of words and phrases that should be “banished” from general use for “Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.”
Naturally, this year’s list was doubtless influenced by the 2016 election, bigly.
That’s right, apparently people are tired of hearing one of Donald Trump’s favorite words, “bigly.” Most of us knew what he meant (hey, it’s fun when Trump makes up words!), but Lake Superior State wasn’t quite sure if Trump was saying “‘big league’ or utter[ing] this 19th-Century word that means, in a swelling blustering manner,” but either way, they want it kicked “out of the echo chamber!”
People would also like to see “town hall meeting” banished, and for good reason. The phrase implies a “common person,” “anything can happen” sort of vibe, like the candidates are really putting themselves out there for the people, when it’s become the exact opposite.
First of all, people haven’t met in “town halls” since the late Middle Ages. Secondly, if you’re disappointed you can really blame Hillary Clinton for ruining this one, what with her pre-scripted, softball “town-hall questions.” Essentially, when a “town hall” debate or Q & A takes place it really has more to do with how the furniture is arranged than any real exposure to the candidates.
“Historic” is another one that was used often in 2016, thanks, of course, to The Donald’s “historic” victory. Yes, I’ve even tossed it around a lot myself. But people are tired of it, so it’s history!
“Echo chamber” is banished also, but I’m guessing that’s probably because the mainstream media wrote in and asked for that quite accurate descriptor to be shown the door.
Several other words and phrases appear on the list, including “you sir” (much to the chagrin of social media trolls), “guesstimate” (for those who want to both guess and estimate something, even those the words mean essentially the same thing), and “on-fleek” (I’ll admit, I’ve never heard that one!).
But the real question is, will Trump stop using “bigly.” My guesstimation is that he won’t.
Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of BizPac Review.
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