Photo: JGI/Jamie Grill / Tetra images / Getty Images
Just as you think you have the best slang, then they go and change it. But they do it every year now.
Lake Superior State University’s annual Banished Words List is out, highlighting words and terms that are “overused, misused, or simply unnecessary.” It's not a new thing, they've been doing it since 1976.
So what made the list for 2025?
The 2025 List includes:
- “Cringe” - According to LSSU, this word has “now overstayed its welcome.” It tops the list because, “Ironically, using it might now cause the very reaction it describes.”
- “Game changer” - Used to describe “anything remotely innovative,” it gets used so much that “nothing is a game changer if everything is a game changer.”
- “Era” - As the name of Taylor Swift’s tour, now everything and everyone has an era. But LSSU warns that “Unless you are Taylor Swift, it might be time to leave ‘era’ behind.”
- “Dropped” - Whether referring to a new song, movie trailer or product coming out, the excessive use of “dropped” has become its downfall. “Once edgy and cool, ‘dropped’ has become more of a letdown,” the university declares.
- “IYKYK” - It means “if you know you know” and LSSU points out it’s time to let it go.
- “Sorry not sorry” - According to Lake Superior State, “A half-hearted apology masquerading as bold honesty, this phrase feels as disingenuous as it sounds.”
- “Skibidi” - Unless you’re Gen Z or Gen Alpha, you probably agree that this term is “just noise.”
- “100%” - It’s time to retire this one because its overuse has “left no room for nuance or doubt.”
- “Utilize” - “Longer is not always better,” the university explains, so why complicate things by utilizing this word when “use” works just as well?
- “Period” - As LSSU explains, “There’s no need to verbally punctuate your point. Period.”
So I would stay away from these and make up your own. That's what everyone is doing now.
I'm loggin my nog and getting da whoot out this
