# Words to say goodbye to



## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

With a new year upon us, I hope several hackneyed words and phrases will eventually drop out of our collective vernacular. Here's a start, but I'd love to hear what the fora thinks. Happy 2009! I hope this year turns out to be better than the last one.

Sustainability
Green
Repurposing
Change
Change agent
Paradigm shift
C-change
Transparency
Deep-dive
Deep-think
Bailout
Bernie Madoff:icon_smile_big:
War on "terra":icon_smile_big:


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

Green, the name of my often humourous but vital third party, only became popular when it could generate pieces of cloth printed ( or was) in that colour with a bunch of dead white guys, dressed better than WAMU commercial spokesmen on it.
There's a word for that, one NOT used enough to describe assorted bankers, CEOs and other greedheads. It's called THIEF.


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## young guy (Jan 6, 2005)

war on christmas
war on middle class
'liberal' media


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## Liberty Ship (Jan 26, 2006)

Stakeholder


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## msphotog (Jul 5, 2006)

Ha! I thought from the topic that it might be words that she might say that would make you say goodbye... And I was thinking either "Honey, I'd like you to meet my new boyfriend" or maybe, "Have you ever seen the business end of a .45?"
Sorry for the hijack, back now to serious commentsic12337:
Really, I have to say that I really got tired of hearing "keep your powder dry", and the word "gravitas" from several years ago.
Mark S.


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

^Ha! It could always be worse. She could say, "Honey, I'd like you to meet my new girlfriend.":icon_smile_big:

I'd like to see "Joe the Plumber" go away.


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## radix023 (May 3, 2007)

involuntary separation
severance
bailout


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## Helvetia (Apr 8, 2008)

No more "Maverick" for me please (unless you really are one)


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## a chemist (Dec 19, 2008)

I'll be glad when these words are used _correctly_. Sustainable is a big one. I hate it when people at my school (which is a bit too liberal for my tastes but it's got great academics so I can deal) use the word "sustainable" for one-time things.


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

Unique, one of a kind is a combination that can go away.
I am sick of pre owned. If it's a used Rolls Royce call it that.
I am sick of disrespected. Using gangbanger lingo is very disrespectfull.
The Judeo-Christian tradition can take a hike too.
The only one I ever liked was Stella and Meara.
And finally, I hate, I hate,I hate 'Boots on the ground.'
Those are young men and women, not some stirring PR image like the Marines getting back into the war after John Wayne died on Iwo Jima.
For 2009 I want our 'boots' back home and employed well enough to buy some Aldens.


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## Beresford (Mar 30, 2006)

"Homeland Security"

It was better when it was "national defense."


"Climate change."

It was better when it was "the weather."


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

1) Change
2) Yes We Can
3) Hockey Mom
4) Meltdown


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## welldressedfellow (May 28, 2008)

RECESSION!


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## Solomander (Dec 1, 2008)

Words and phrases that I wouldn't miss:

Drill down

At the end of the day

Aks (as opposed to ask)

Yo yo yo!

Bling

Suicide bomber (should be homicide bomber)

Martyr

Joel


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

Solomander said:


> Suicide bomber (should be homicide bomber)
> 
> Joel


And militant should be changed to terrorist.


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## AMVanquish (May 24, 2005)

How about "transformative political figure?"


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

bling
carbon footprint
unibomber


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## magogian (Jul 2, 2008)

"Main Street" and "Wall Street" (when used together)

God help me if I hear those two phrases together again.



Use of "gunman" instead of "terrorist" (for example, see news reports from Mumbai attacks)


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

Homeland

Terrorist


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## Liberty Ship (Jan 26, 2006)

Green

Historic (if you aren't sick of it yet, you will be by January 21.)


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

jackmccullough said:


> Homeland
> 
> * Terrorist*


Do you have a viable alternative?


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## 14395 (Mar 10, 2004)

"Under the bus"
"Distraction"
"That's not the (fill in the blank") I knew"


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

EP said:


> "Under the bus"


I've had two managers refer to excessive training of an underling in my own duties with the phrase "in case you get hit by a bus."

This is code for "our CFO is driving the bus, and we want to replace you with someone who has half the education, work experience, and salary."

I asked my latest manager who did this "why do people say 'hit by a bus?' Couldn't it be something good, like 'won the lottery?'"

Her reply, "if you win the lottery, I hope you need an accountant!"

My reply to her, "If I win the lottery, I'd hope I wouldn't."

_I'm_ an accountant. And, unlike her, a CPA.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

pt4u67 said:


> Do you have a viable alternative?


Yes. My alternative is to not have anyone use it until they are prepared to use the word accurately and neutrally.

For example, the people in Iraq that most Americans don't like, who are launching guerrilla attacks against American forces, are regularly referred to as terrorists. They are not terrorists. They're not attacking civilians, but an opposing military force. Saying they're not terrorists doesn't mean we like what they're doing, but calling them terrorists is simply a way of saying they're bad.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

Humbled.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

Solomander said:


> Words and phrases that I wouldn't miss:
> 
> Joel


What's wrong with "Joel"? I would think it would be quite handy if you wanted to refer to someone with that name.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

Gender, except in discussions of grammar.

A phrase, really, but I wouldn't be sorry if I'd heard the last of "_______ is the new _______".


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

In light of recent events, I hope to say goodbye to the following words/terms:

1) Disproportionate force
2) Cycle of Violence
3) Arab Street
4) Innocent Civilians
5) Emboldened radicals


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Hoping that Mr Obama, unlike his predecessor, will be able to pronounce the word "Europe" correctly, sounding it as the two syllable word that it is, and not as the monosyllable Dubja clearly thought it was, i.e. "Yerp"


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## cosmotoast (Oct 11, 2008)

"Obeese Challenged". God Lord, just call me fat and be done with tip toeing around it !
Cosmo:drunken_smilie:


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## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

TMMKC said:


> With a new year upon us, I hope several hackneyed words and phrases will eventually drop out of our collective vernacular. Here's a start, but I'd love to hear what the fora thinks. Happy 2009! I hope this year turns out to be better than the last one.
> 
> Sustainability
> Green
> ...


So you've never actually seen this phrase in print, right? It's *sea change* and it's been around since Shakespeare.
​


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

"Partner" used by all the trendy, PC types who think that terms like my wife, my husband, my spouse, my boy/girlfirend are demeaning.

It really pisses me off when a bloke refers to his wife as "his partner"
I can understand gay couples saying partner in situations where they might not want to reveal their sexual preferences to the perosn they are talking to.

But for hetero couples partner just sounds so clinical, so unemotional.
A partner is something you have in business or in tennis or on the dancefloor not in the bedroom!


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

Thanks, Earl!

Nucular.


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

"to be honest..."


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## magogian (Jul 2, 2008)

Words to love:

Internets

Strategery


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

First Dude
"From Wall Street to Main Street"


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## MichaelS (Nov 14, 2005)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> "Partner" used by all the trendy, PC types who think that terms like my wife, my husband, my spouse, my boy/girlfirend are demeaning.
> 
> It really pisses me off when a bloke refers to his wife as "his partner"
> I can understand gay couples saying partner in situations where they might not want to reveal their sexual preferences to the perosn they are talking to.
> ...


The term "partner" is pretty common in Europe where a lot of people live together, have kids, a committed family relationship, etc without getting married. (In Germany, I believe you get what is equivalent to a civil union from the government and if you want to get "married" you must be a member of a church and get married in the church. I probably don't have the full story but this is how I understand it).

Jack's thoughts on the term "terrorist" are interesting. there was a Frenchman from North African who was a committed member of the French Resistance during WWII and blew up trains and worked to kill Germans etc. All of the stuff the French are so proud of. After the war, he went back to North Africa (I believe Morocco but am not completely sure) and fought against the colonial French to free his home country. I am not completely sure of how this happened but I believe it may have been during a trial, where being called a terrorist for his activities in Northern Africa, he questioned why when conducting the exact same activities in France in WWII, he was considered a "Freedom Fighter".

As to Bernie Madoff, isn't that going to morph into Bernie Madeoff-with-my-money?


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## Acct2000 (Sep 24, 2005)

jackmccullough said:


> Nucular.


That one just irritates me, too. I had a seventh grade teacher who mispronounced our word (and of course, who will ever forget the mispronouncer in chief. Sigh)


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

forsbergacct2000 said:


> That one just irritates me, too. I had a seventh grade teacher who mispronounced our word (and of course, who will ever forget the mispronouncer in chief. Sigh)


I remember that when Eisenhower, who pronounced the word the same way, was president, it was a common belief among my boyhood chums that if the President of the United States pronounced a word a certain way, that made it ipso facto the official pronunciation of that word. Of course, we were only about seven at the time, so that opinion was not entitled to much deference.


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## Brooksfan (Jan 25, 2005)

Blagojevich


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

bromance.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

MichaelS said:


> The term "partner" is pretty common in Europe where a lot of people live together, have kids, a committed family relationship, etc without getting married.


eeerr....no it isn't. I've lived in 3 European countries. And now live in Sweden. Most of the Western European languages use words that mean spouse or cohabitant or common law wife/husband NOT partner.



MichaelS said:


> (In Germany, I believe you get what is equivalent to a civil union from the government


That's bascially the same in all EU countires, nothing unusual there.But the term still isn't partner, it is cohabitant or common law wife/husband


MichaelS said:


> and if you want to get "married" you must be a member of a church and get married in the church. I probably don't have the full story but this is how I understand it).


You understnad it incorrectly! You don't have to be a member of a church at all to get married in any EU country. Church & state are separate. The only legally binding ceremony/agreement is that carried out at the registry office or town hall and/or when you sign the civil papers at the end of a church service.
What many people don't realise is that you aren't officially married when a priest says you are but when the reigstration paper that you've signed at a civil ceremony with a registrar or after the church service is entered into the system.

Bottom line - "partner" is in my experience only common amongst PC trendy types in the UK and homosexual couples in many countries.

I still hate hearing it from heterosexuals though.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

How about "mangina"?


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

"Back in the day"


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## Wizard (Feb 29, 2008)

Get your ______ on.

Respect the ______.

Crave the ______.

All started in advertising but, sadly, made the move to daily speech & journalism.


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## Mad Hatter (Jul 13, 2008)

*Great topic!*

Hero. A term cheapened by overuse and making the ordinary extraordinay.

Gender Reassignment. Making an "innie" an "outie" still doesn't change ones' chromosomes.

Gifting. What happened to "giving"?


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## Scrumhalf (Dec 20, 2007)

Business process.


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## Kosh Naranek (Apr 24, 2008)

Awesome.
Way as in "Waaaay better."
Like.
43
Up-inflection for anything other than a question.
Present tense continuously used when past tense is obviously called for.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

Mad Hatter said:


> Gender Reassignment. Making an "innie" an "outie" still doesn't change ones' chromosomes.


I don't like the word "reassignment" because it sounds bureaucratic. Like someone else might choose to reassign you without your consent.

It's been my experience that there are so many terms for gender identities and methods of changing them, that most people in those situations pick their favorites and spend far too much time informing everyone that every other term is offensive.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Mad Hatter said:


> Gifting. What happened to "giving"?


Or the perfectly suitbale word that exists for this "donating"


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Kosh Naranek said:


> Up-inflection for anything other than a question.


Ooooh, don't get me started! I absolutely detest it. I first started noticing it in London in the 80s, exclusively amongst poeple who spoke "Estuary English" i.e. posh Essex and Kent types.

But they still didn't twig that it was an incorrect form of intonation even when people would answer their statements as questions, in an attempt to make them realise they were posing everything they said as a query.


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## My Pet. A Pantsuit (Dec 25, 2008)

"Randomness."

Here is a word that's been dodging the scythe since about 2001. A good way to mask putting little thought into a project is to refer to it as "randomness," even though said project came to be intentionally.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

partaking.


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