This is actually an annual tradition at Lake Superior State University. It’s really meant as humor, not an effort to limit free speech.
Here are some of the banned words, via Inside Higher Ed:
Unpack: Misused word for analyze, consider, assess. Concepts or positions are not packed, so they don’t need to be unpacked.Tons: Refers to an exaggerated quantity, as in tons of sunshine or tons of work. “Lots” would surely suffice.Dish: As in to dish out the latest rumor on someone. Let’s go back to “talks about” and leave dishes in the cupboard.Pre-owned: What is so disgraceful about owning a used car now and then?Onboarding/Offboarding: Creature from the HR Lagoon. We used to have hiring, training and orientation. Now we need to have an “onboarding” process. Firings, quitting and retirements are streamlined into “offboarding.”Nothingburger: Says nothing that “nothing” doesn’t already. I’ll take a quarter pound of something in mine.Let That Sink In: One could say shocking, profound or important. Let that sink in.Let Me Ask You This: Wholly unnecessary statement. Just ask the question already.Impactful: A frivolous word groping for something “effective” or “influential.”Covfefe: An impulsive typo, born into a 140-character universe, somehow missed by the autocorrect feature.Drill Down: Instead of expanding on a statement, we “drill down on it.”Fake News: Once upon a time stories could be empirically disproved. Now “fake news” is any story you disagree with.
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