Wordpocalypse! 'Selfie,' 'twerk' top list of most annoying words of 2013.
Sorry Justin Bieber. Uploading your mug to millions of followers is now deemed officially annoying.
That鈥檚 because 鈥渟elfie鈥� tops the 2013 List of Words to be Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse, and General Uselessness. The annual list, which started in 1975, is released every New Year鈥檚 Eve by Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
Catapulting to the top of more than 2,000 nominations, 鈥渟elfie鈥� gained momentum to due the convergence of social networks and smartphone technology, which enabled widespread cultural narcissism. Now with the ability to take self-portraits and send-and-spread via a host of outlets like Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, 鈥渟elfie鈥� has entered the lexicon once ruled by 鈥渁mazing鈥� (2011), 鈥�24/7鈥� (2000) 鈥渕ute point鈥� (1990), and other past winners.
Tom Pink, a university spokesman, says that 鈥渟elfie鈥� and 鈥渢werk鈥� (the second most overused word of 2013) benefited from being associated with images. The overuse of smartphone snaps by Mr. Bieber, the Kardashian clan, and other reality show celebrities is one example. The cringe-worthy, attention-craving performance of Miley Cyrus at a televised awards show in August is another.
鈥淪ince there is a larger image that goes with [the words], they get on people鈥檚 nerves more quickly,鈥� Mr. Pink says. 鈥淎 lot of people used the word 鈥榮elfish鈥� when they were talking about what it was that made them so annoyed.鈥�
鈥淪elfie鈥� also gained notoriety inside the Beltway when President Obama participated in a group self-portrait, accompanied by British Prime Minister David Cameron and Denmark Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt at Nelson Mandela鈥檚 memorial earlier this month. For that moment, captured by a news photographer, Obama earned the derisive nickname 鈥淧resident Selfie.鈥�
The list began as a New Year鈥檚 Eve game concocted by former Lake Superior State University public relations director Bill Rabe to promote the school鈥檚 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, Pink says.
This year, 鈥渟elfie鈥� and 鈥渢werk鈥� are joined by the following:
Hashtag: Once called the pound symbol, the name originated as a Twitter tool to expand a conversation, but now is injected everywhere, from advertising to actual verbal conversations.
Twittersphere: Again, the influence of Twitter, used to describe whole swaths of the public engaged in debate.
Mister Mom: A throwback to the 1983 Michael Keaton movie of the same name, Pink says that mainly men nominated this phrase, which is back in popularity due to the rising number of stay-at-home fathers.
T-Bone: Not the meat on your plate, but a common description of a vehicle wreck.
Obamacare: Once the Obama administration embraced the term to describe the Affordable Care Act, it permeated the ongoing debate.
Any word ending in 鈥�-ageddon鈥� or 鈥�-pocalypse鈥� such as 鈥渟nowmageddon鈥� or 鈥渟nowpocalypse.鈥� Here, the blame can be attributed to the confluence of weather upheaval and cable news hype.
A complete list can be found at lssu.edu/banished.
Pink says that it鈥檚 common for banished words to hang around long after their popularity.
鈥淲e ask ourselves every year: 鈥楬ow long before our list is banished?鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淏ut people feel very passionate about the language. If there wasn鈥檛 this outlet, think about how much more violence there could be in the world.鈥�
