The most annoying words of 2013
“Selfie,” “twerk,” “Twittersphere” and “-pocalypse” all made the annual list. Do you think they should be there?
“Selfie” snagged the title of Oxford English Dictionaries’ word of the year for 2013, but it earned a less honorable award this year: a spot on Lake Superior State University’s list of banished words.
“It’s a lame word,” David of Lake Mills, Wisc., a nominator of the word, says. “It’s all about me, me, me. Put the smartphone away. Nobody cares about you.”
Lake Superior State University accepts nominations for its banished words list throughout the year, and releases the official list on New Year’s Eve. The university has compiled the list every year since 1975.
Other annoying words that made the list this year (and why their nominators submitted them) include:
Twerk: “The fastest overused word of the 21st century.” (Sean, New London, N.H.)
Hashtag: “Typed on sites that use them, that’s one thing. When verbally spoken, hashtag-itgetsoldquickly. So, hashtag-knockitoff.” (Kuahmel, Gardena, Calif.)
Twittersphere: “There cannot possibly be any oxygen there.” (Matt of Toledo, Ohio)
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