# More words/expressions to abolish **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 9, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274 "2012-03-09T15:13:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/1 "2012-03-09T15:13:18Z")
In commercials: [ul]“clinically proven” - puh-leese [/ul] [ul] [li]“clinically tested” - likewise[/li][/ul] In general conversation: [ul] [li]“awesome” - The usage quota on that word is off the chart. It’s worn out and used up. It’s an empty, dried-out husk of a word. It should be allowed to retire to a chair in the sun on an island far, far from people who speak. [/li][/ul] [ul] [li]“iconic” - enough already [/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/2 "2012-03-09T15:33:59Z")
“100% natural!” Yeah, so is arsenic and dog shit. What else you got? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/3 "2012-03-10T04:00:08Z")
“Utilize” – just say “use”, you pompous twit! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/4 "2012-03-10T04:44:25Z")
“Educator” - Teacher is a fine and noble title/profession; educator is pretentious. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/5 "2012-03-10T05:05:38Z")
Nose to tail. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/6 "2012-03-10T06:20:01Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > In commercials: > [ul]“clinically proven” - puh-leese > [/ul] > [ul] > [li]“clinically tested” - likewise[/li][/ul] Add to that: “significant” or “significantly” , most often heard in TV commercials, as in: Brand-AAA Aspirin _significantly_ [blah, blah…] That is, using these words in their statistical meaning, which may be technically correct but doesn’t mean the same thing as the “common everyday” meaning, and is really used for the purpose of “significantly” bamboozling viewers. ETA: None of these usages are going to go away, of course. They use words like those _on purpose_! Significantly more people get bamboozled that way. ETA some more: And I wish news writers would learn the difference between “stanch” and “staunch” and use them correctly. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/7 "2012-03-10T18:06:03Z")
WAKE UP!! Always in caps, always with the exclamation points, always screamed in-your-face by right-wing religious nutters. As in WAKE UP AMERICA!!..WAKE UP SHEEPLE!! Jeebus is coming!! The ship of state is going under!! It’s everywhere…on amateur illiterate blogs, in the comment sections of news sources, hell, there are whole websites devoted to telling me to WAKE UP!!. This isn’t just a dog whistle for the wingnuts it’s a gawdam cattle call. If one more nitwit screams WAKE UP!! at me I’m going to…I’m gonna… I dunno… Go back to sleep? SS ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/8 "2012-03-10T22:56:49Z")
24/7 - especially when followed by “all the time” or some variant. Fanbois. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/9 "2012-03-10T23:09:29Z")
State of the Art = totally gibberish. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/10 "2012-03-10T23:48:35Z")
How about any modifier applied to “unique” or “ubiquitous”? ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/11 "2012-03-11T00:17:32Z")
That’s above my pay-grade. OK, if you are in the military, I understand. I still don’t like it, but in the military they actually have pay-grades. In business, you don’t. And, that’s not what they mean anyway. What they mean is “That’s for people above my place in the hierarchy”. While sometimes (OK, usually) this means folks getting paid more than you, it isn’t the money, it is where you are on the ladder. It would probably me more accurate to say “that’s for people who are smarter than I”. Grrrr. excavating (for a mind) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/12 "2012-03-11T01:31:14Z")
Typing “LOL” is the internet version of chewing gum: it instantly lowers your IQ by 50 points and makes you someone whose opinion is not worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![eldowan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@eldowan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eldowan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/13 "2012-03-11T01:45:09Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > That’s above my pay-grade. > > OK, if you are in the military, I understand. I still don’t like it, but in the military they actually have pay-grades. > > In business, you don’t. And, that’s not what they mean anyway. What they mean is “That’s for people above my place in the hierarchy”. While sometimes (OK, usually) this means folks getting paid more than you, it isn’t the money, it is where you are on the ladder. It would probably me more accurate to say “that’s for people who are smarter than I”. > > Grrrr. > > excavating (for a mind) In my company, a very well known global giant, there _are_ paygrades. And, while true, that the term is used to refer to people higher in the hierarchy, I have seen painfully few times when it meant ‘smarter’. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/14 "2012-03-11T04:36:54Z")
I would like to ban the word “conversate” (although if I stopped watching The People’s Court, I would probably never hear it again). ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/15 "2012-03-11T05:44:07Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Typing “LOL” is the internet version of chewing gum: it instantly lowers your IQ by 50 points and makes you someone whose opinion is not worth reading. So damn baby, you’re already down 100 points! Way to go on your spelling!! You did a super job! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/16 "2012-03-11T05:46:52Z")
> [@MagicEyes](#): > > I would like to ban the word “conversate” (although if I stopped watching The People’s Court, I would probably never hear it again). Since it seems we’re banning “non-words” now; I want to ban _supposably_ and his inbred brother _supposively_. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/17 "2012-03-11T05:50:03Z")
And esculator and perculator (for escalator and percolator). ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/18 "2012-03-11T05:52:50Z")
“face time” “real time” “tweet” “Network” as a verb. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/19 "2012-03-11T12:54:30Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > So damn baby, you’re already down 100 points! Way to go on your spelling!! You did a super job! 🙂 I am L’ing out L. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/20 "2012-03-11T13:09:38Z")
How about “imput” instead of “input.” If people knew what the word meant, they might figure out that it has to do with what goes IN, and that “IM” makes no sense. Or not. And, as long as we’re on the subject, [it’s BUCK-naked, not BUTT-naked](http://shadesbreath.hubpages.com/hub/Is-it-Buck-Naked-or-Butt-Naked). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274.md?page=2)