Stop Saying That

If you could press a button and eliminate a word from the universe, what would it be?

Thanks to everyone for your clicks and comments over the last four weeks of Apostrophe Philosophy! The series is done, though I’ll never say never to revisiting misuse of apostrophes (stay tuned, per the advice of my friend Katherine, for some holiday card tips on surnames come next fall!).

I’ve got a few more series in the pipeline, but I’m going to break it up today and ask you all, my many dedicated readers, for your contributions. I’ll read them this week, and next week’s newsletter will feature everyone’s input.

Hat tip to my friend Laura for the suggestion to write today about words that get overused, whether in our business lives (if anyone said “ping me” to you today, sorry) or just, like, in life. For example, I love goats, but it is true that not everything can be the GOAT.

Except Buttermilk.

Each year, a list of overused words that deserve a break from the lexicon is released by Lake Superior State University in Michigan. Their top choice this year was GOAT, followed by “inflection point,” “quiet quitting,” “gaslighting,” and “moving forward.”

”Amazing” was also on the LSSU list, which I am guilty of overusing myself, along with “awesome.”

Whether you agree with these specific findings or not, we all have the word that sends us over the edge in work emails or when reading an article online. I used to work with a gentleman named Bob (IYKYK) who kept a careful list of words he felt our publication overused. He would update me on his latest annoyances whenever we ran into each other in the cafeteria or on an elevator. Every word person needs a Bob in their lives.

Here’s a new one for me: The word “sus” for “suspect” or “suspicious” irks me. I’ve seen examples where it works, but for the most part, it slows me down as I have to think about what it means. I’ve also seen it misspelled as “suss,” which is a real word with an entirely different meaning that’s also a different part of speech (a verb) than the adjective “sus,” so that’s a whole OTHER thing I have to get through to discover what you really intend to say.

What words get your goat? I want to hear them all. Leave me a comment, either here on Substack or on whatever social you happen to read this on, and let me know. Did the word creep up on you slowly, over time, or hit you over the head like a 2x4? Is it more annoying in certain uses than others, or by certain people? Tell me everything.