Banishment

It's always fun to read Lake Superior State University's annual list of "banished words." Right, all the usual caveats apply -- it's an unscientific list of pet peeves; every word has its uses; and if someone really could banish words from English, then English would be no better than French.

Still, I like to imagine the LSSU folks keeping a sense of humor about the whole project. For instance, the first contributor they quote in their criticism of "shovel-ready" uses "implement," a word from the very first "banished" list.

Mostly I like to see where new concepts are challenging our old perspectives on the world. New terms that seem silly at first can reveal tiny nuances that either didn't exist before or just didn't have a name. A good example is this comment on why we shouldn't use "friend" as a verb:

"'Befriend' is much more pleasant to the human ear and a perfectly useful word in the dictionary." – Kevin K., Morris, Okla.

Making this change would obliterate one of the casual social dynamics that define life on the Internet. You can "friend" a random co-worker, a networking contact, the cute girl from the bar, the funny dude from an Internet forum you read, or maybe even a celebrity you've never met. How many of them have you actually "befriended"?

Honestly, this does show the limits of the noun "friend" in the social media context, an issue that, of course, long predates social media. At the same time, torturing "friend" into a verb seems to reflect the ad hoc nature of these new* Internet-enabled relationships. Maybe there's a better word waiting to be invented. Maybe it's good that we're discomforted. Is that a bug or a feature?

Here's one more, on "sexting."

"Any dangerous new trend that also happens to have a clever mash-up of words, involves teens, and gets television talk show hosts interested must be banished." – Ishmael Daro, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada.

Dude, seriously? Never mind what you think of "sexting," that sounds like how a lot of perfectly acceptable new words are born. Replace "teens" and "television talk show hosts" if you must.

* Is this actually new anymore? There are thirtysomethings who have done this half their lives. I'm probably biased since there's no word we all agree on. Name it and I'll let it be.