(PCM) I am sure that each individual could probably make up their own personal list for what they believe are the most annoying words or phrases from the past year and without a doubt I’m sure many will completely agree with those included on the 2013 list created by Michigan’s Lake Superior University.
According to the University, words such as “selfie” and “twerking” made the top of the list which was complied from nearly 2,000 submissions. Since 1975, the list has grown to feature more than 800 words, many from the worlds of politics, sports and of course pop culture.
A few additional words that topped this year’s list are: “hashtag”, “Mr. Mom”, “Obamacare”, “Twittersphere”, anything “on-steroids”, as well as people being incredibly tired of the suffixes “-pocalypse” and “-ageddon” used to make words such as “snow-mageddon” for example.
The list began as a New Year’s Eve game invented by former Lake Superior State University public relations director Bill Rabe to promote the school’s national name recognition. In the pre-Internet era, the university used to receive as many as 800 nominations by letter or postcard. Online media has more than doubled submissions via the university website.
A complete listing of all of this year’s banished words can be found here!