Ordinarily I'm not in favor of banning words, but I can make a principled exception in this case: let's get rid of these for the high crime of gross banality.
Lake Superior State University on Sunday released its annual "List of Words and Phrases Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness."The Sault Ste. Marie school in the Upper Peninsula has been compiling the list since 1976 to attract publicity. A total of 16 words or phrases were selected by a university committee from more than 4,500 nominations.
The list reads like a lexicon of popular culture.
Take "ask your doctor," the mantra of pharmaceutical commercials. The university called it "the chewable vitamin morphine of marketing."
• Lake Superior State University Banished Words List