Lake Superior State University published 10 words that should be banished in 2023 but the word I was hoping was on the list is not.

The list from LSSU includes: GOAT, inflection point, quiet quitting, gaslighting, moving forward, amazing, “does that make sense?”, irregardless, absolutely, and “it is what it is”. As it turns out there are many annual lists of words that are overused or should be banished.

From the above list I would give runner up status to “it is what it is”, although I have been known to use it when I have nothing positive to say about the situation but feel I must say something. I suppose honorable mention would go to irregardless. I was under the impression that it is not even a word but when I checked it is being listed as a synonym of regardless.

The word I really, really want banished is unprecedented. It was a word that you hardly ever heard before the pandemic and now everything from weather patterns to market conditions and political events are unprecedented. I am trying to decide if we are hyping something up using this word or if we have just become lazy in using our vocabulary to describe extraordinary, never before seen, miraculous, unparalleled, uncommon, and anomalous things we are seeing in the world.

Do you have a word that should be banished?