Forget those horrible practices of adding slang to American dictionaries.]
Lake Superior State College in Michigan since 1976 has been taking steps to ensure that current slang phrases don’t get “relatively broad and frequent use” during the next three years.
Its 2006 list of “words banished from the queen’s English for mis-use, over-use and general uselessness” includes the popular political buzz phrases up and down vote and junk science.
Broadcasting’s breaking news, first-time caller and talking points also got the axe.
Ditto for education’s community of learners, law enforcement’s person of interest, advertising’s 97% fat free and the politically correct holiday tree.
The Editor’s favorite vocabulary no-no: surreal. (26 MARCH 2006)
