The 2021 List Of Banished Words

People across the U.S. and around the world let Lake Superior State University know that they’re tired not only of the coronavirus pandemic but also of hearing, reading, and talking about it—especially when the communication is bad or excessive.

LSSU has compiled an annual Banished Words List since 1976 to uphold, protect, and support excellence in language by encouraging avoidance of words and terms that are overworked, redundant, oxymoronic, clichéd, illogical, nonsensical—and otherwise ineffective, baffling, or irritating. Over the decades, LSSU has received tens of thousands of nominations for the list, which now totals more than 1,000 entries. This year, nominations came from most major U.S. cities and many U.S. states, as well as from Australia, the Czech Republic, England, and Canada. Here are the list of the banished words and terms for 2021

1. COVID-19 (COVID, coronavirus, Rona)   We are sick of hearing it and saying it

2. Social distancing

3. We’re all in this together

4. In an abundance of caution (various phrasings)

5. In these uncertain times (various phrasings)

6. Pivot

7. Unprecedented

8. Karen

9. Sus  (It’s a shortened version for “suspicious”)

10. I know, right?