People have been hacking the English language for years but, at the end of the day, most of the attempts don’t slay. Instead, they are – wait for it – cringe-worthy.
Since this is my side hustle, it’s time to obsess about the 2024 banished words.
Since 1976, Lake Superior State University (LSSU) has compiled an annual list of words to be banned. Over the decades, LSSU has received tens of thousands of nominations for banishment with the goal to:
“uphold, protect, and support excellence in language by encouraging avoidance of words and terms that are overworked, redundant, oxymoronic, clichéd, illogical, nonsensical—and otherwise ineffective, baffling, or irritating.”
The ten winners losers banished words for 2024 are as follows:
- Hack
- Impact
- At the end of the day
- Rizz
- Slay
- Iconic
- Cringe-worthy
- Obsessed
- Side hustle
- Wait for it
Rizz, slang for the word charisma, was Oxford University Press’ Word of the Year for 2023. It was a gaming term originally popularized by the YouTube and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat which went viral (phrase banished in 2012) when iconic actor Tom Holland quipped: “I have no rizz whatsoever.”
While words matter, at the end of the day, the impact of these lists is minimal. After all, at the end of the day was banished twice before: in 1999 and 2022.
That slays, dunnit?
Totally agree with the list.