Forbidden Words, Phrases and Acronyms of 2006

Just as last year, I'm going to keep a rolling list. And the first entry is ...

drinks the Kool-Aid

Submit your nominees in the comments section below.

Comments

[Hubris]

"Intellectual honesty"

[Shawn]

jumps the shark

[Alex]

Special Blog Edition:

MSM
blogosphere
Rathergate
meme
self-correcting
snark
moonbat
wingnut
Heh/Indeed

[eRobin]

I'm going with "no free lunch" and "personal accounts."

[Amanda]

I love "jumps the shark"! You can't take it from me!

I nominate "moonbat"--the lamest, stupidest insult I have ever heard.

[Kathy]

I heartily second "meme" as the non-word I never want to see again.

[Kat]

Mandate

[Shiny]

I assume that culture of life has already had all the culture and life sucked out of it?

[Greg]

George W. Bush

[William Bollinger]

"moral values"

[ACW]

I don't want "meme" banned; I just want to annihilate its recently-acquired second meaning: web-based questionnaire as a form of amusement. The original coinage by Dawkins meant something quite different, and to my mind, still quite interesting.

[Jenn]

This probably belongs to last year more than this year, but I'm so tired of 'Islamofascist'.

[riddley walker]

I assume that culture of life has already had all the culture and life sucked out of it?

ditto ...

culture of life
culture of life
culture of life
culture of life
culture of life
culture of life
culture of life
culture of life
culture of life

UGH

followed by ...

freedom is god's gift (to every sovereign nation we invade -- and to everyone killed as a result)

plus ...

spreading democracy throughout the world (whether you want it or not; whether you hate us or don't)

also ...

ownership society (we own, you pay, you borrow, you broke)

[KathyF]

Oh, God, I'm so confused! Is it 2005? Or 2006? I've posted on the wrong list!

[Chris Rasmussen]

"Self-correcting blogosphere."

also

"I read Hugh Hewitt's book."

[Shawn]

Islamofascist

Guahh, what an ugly word. I second its inclusion.

[peckinpah fellators]

approved for saturation thru april 2005

bloody bore (sin city)

been there, done that - the secret of my excess (tarantino)

[Daniel Franke]

"Islamofascism"

[Chris Clarke]

The new meaning of meme is the useful one. The old one is pernicious and misleading.

[norbizness]

What about the combo-word "Hehndeed"?

[Astarte]

I'll second:

meme
blogosphere
MSM
culture of life
moral values
values

And add:
George Lakoff (I really love the guy's work, but it's being over-used)

[Astarte]

Oh, and of course, framing... unless you're talking about framing someone for murder, in which case it's all right.

[JDC]

"[Fill in commentator's name here] nails it."

or

"[Fill in commentator's name here] gets it right."

[Lauren]

CULTURE OF LIFE

[caps intended]

[Alex]

"nuclear option" or whatever the hell it's called.

[GraceD]

This dingy blog phrasing:

I. Hate. This. Shit.

In my perfect world, this would trigger a virus on the offending blog.

[drew]

I'll also second 'meme' and 'snark' as well as add "The blame America first crowd" and "DeLay".

[Eli]

This is not what you are asking for, but I'm tired of war supporter pundits and bloggers who are elligible to join the military and don't. What is their excuse? Why are people letting them get away with being selfish assholes? Why aren't they ashamed? You can ship off the whole Repub crowd at Obsidian Wings as a first test run.

[messums]

Hanoi Jane

[Roxanne]

I believe that "Hanoi Jane" was on the 1973 list.

[Rad Geek]

Well, I'll definitely second the call for putting "... drinks the Kool-Aid" on the blacklist for 2006. In fact, I'd vote for a permanent spot. I don't know how many people don't know and how many people just don't care that their snarky little catch-phrase is joking about the senseless deaths of nearly 1,000 people in a ghastly mass murder-suicide, but whether it's through ignorance or sheer callousness that the allusion persists, the shorter its time remaining in this world the better.

[grover]

Heh. 'nuff said. Read the whole thing.

That about sums it up for me.

[Daniel K.]

Gravitas!

[sylamore]

"Chat away!" "Wanker", "JimJeffGuckonGanert" and every derivative thereof. Oh, and "assfucking."

[Penny]

"Grow a pair."

[Richard Bellikoff]

Bipartisanship
Compassionate conservative
Freedom is on the march

. . . or any other meaningless word or catchphrase that Bush repeats ad infinitum in his speeches

[Carla]

"nuculer"

[Richard Bellikoff]

A psychobabble word that survives from the 70s or maybe even the 60s and is long overdue for retirement:
"Closure"

[Jennifer]

alternative lifestyle

[shamanic]

Steadfast, as used by George W. Bush in sentences such as:

"We are making steadfast progress."

[mrs mcmuffin]

You can't ban 'wanker', it is part of my culture (not wanking, obviously). I second 'moonbat', I don't quite understand what it means, but the nastier US blogs seem to use it all the time and I'd like to force them to be a bit more creative.

[Pete]

LOL , ROFLOL etc.

and all the rest of the web, chat room , text message
blog speak, abbreviations

Apart from RTFM (which I like)

and you can stick your smileys and 'emoticons' up your arse as well

[Aurora]

girly-man

[SB]

"Jenna & NotJenna" (get it? One of Bush's daughters is named Jenna and the other isn't! God, that's so endlessly hilarious!)

The word "sexy" used in any context not directly related to sex (especially in reference to political appeal)

"Not that there's anything wrong with that", used after any reference to same-sex relationships.

[R]

fundamentalist Islam

terrorist

[R]

oh, and 'mandate'

[Agitprop]

culture of life
privatization
mandate
liberal media

[ricky]

Coalition. Coalition governments. Coalition forces. Coalitions of various coalitions.

[Lee]

Hindrocket
The Big Trunk

[hangtown]

XXX. XXX. XXX.
As in Worst. President. Ever.

[RobW]

Actually that whole Comicbook Guy endorsement thang can go - or, for that matter, any quoting of The Simpsons whatsoever.

"moral clarity"
"moral relativism"
(A total ban would probably be easier than forcing people to use them correctly.)

And hopefully it's already dead, but I never want to hear again:

"South Park Republicans"

Stupidest. Meme. Ever.

[eric]

Can we have replacements for the tired oldies but goodies? Like maybe:

“drinks the kool-aid” replaced by “drank the kool-aid, died, but the body lives on in zombie form”?
“wingnut” replaced by “neoconned“?
“hindrocket” replaced by “assmissle”?
“the big trunk” replaced by “assmissle’s bitch”

Stuff like that. Just asking is all.

[eric]

Maybe the last one is over the top. "Think tank snot" might have been a little better.

[dadahead]

"Moonbat" shouldn't be forbidden; rather, it should be embraced. I am a moonbat and proud of it. We even have a logo.

As for "drinking the Kool Aid," I agree that this phrase is annoying, but having a laugh at the expense of 1,000 dumbass cult members doesn't really bother me.

[Auguste]

"Unhinged"

[Nancy]

My nominee: "begs the question"

[Rad Geek]

dadahead: "... having a laugh at the expense of 1,000 dumbass cult members doesn't really bother me."

Two metal buckets of grape Flavor Aid laced with Valium and cyanide were brought into the assembly hall and the mixture was dispensed in small paper cups. Babies and children were the first ones to ingest the mixture as it was squirted into their throats with a syringe.

...

Hours after news of the mass suicide [sic] got out, local authorities found 913 of the 1,110 inhabitants dead, including 276 children.

Yeah, all those "dumbass" murdered infants. What a laugh riot. Maybe we can replace it with a topical zinger about, say, Andrea Yates's kids--"Don't get in the bathtub!" Hardy har har.

[DragonFlyEye]

This one should have been banned in the eighties when Dubya's Daddy was using it, but now is as good a time as any:

"Hard Work"

[Hubris]

JDC, you totally nailed it with your 1:36pm comment.

[slacktivist]

I second Nancy on "begs the question."

This has somehow become a synonym for "raises the question" -- which raises the question of what, now, do we call it when someone makes an argument that assumes as proved the very thing they are trying to prove.

[JDC]

Hubris has a brilliant post over at Rox Populi . Just go read it. Then come back and discuss.

[Njorl]

If you ban "Moonbat" what will become of Moonbatman?

[Social Scientist]

Um, was "kerfuffle" on last year's list and I missed it?

[Roxanne]

Oh, SS! That's a good one!

[Thad]

what, now, do we call it when someone makes an argument that assumes as proved the very thing they are trying to prove.

"Beggars the question." (I mean, if you want to be a purist, you might as well go all the way back.)

"Jenna & NotJenna" (get it? One of Bush's daughters is named Jenna and the other isn't! God, that's so endlessly hilarious!)

Oh, but it is. Besides, it's a nice helpful way to distinguish NotJenna from her harpy grandmother.

How about "x-blogging"? The Ole Perfesser is an especially egregious violator. Today, he's got "mower-blogging," "hospi-blogging," "barn-blogging," "scandalblogging," and, lord help us, "business-blogging-a-go-go."

(I believe x-a-go-go" was banned back in 1967.)

[TSop]

"At the end of the day."

[fleacircus]

This was more of a 2004 thing, but you still hear it:
"Perfect storm"
As in "I meant to buy bread at the grocery store honey, but a perfect storm of wet floors, bad shopping cart wheels, busy checkouts and an actual rain-storm (good but not perfect) prevented me. It's not because I'm inept."

I'm still hearing this for fuck's sake:
"The Tipping Point"

But maybe my biggest pet peeve:
"That [being] said, ..."
As in: "Bill, I think the Senator is a bright man who tries very hard. That said, it's time to cut his throat, force his children into sex slavery, and stir up a smear campaign to forever tarnish his legacy."

I was actually disappointed that "spider hole" didn't make it into common parlance. "Some people think that Intelligent Design is good science, but they'll never come out of that spider hole willingly."

[pam]

Fifteen minutes (of fame)

[Madelyn Scudery]

"Judicial Activism" has got to disappear, please? --it's annoying because it is such a stupid phrase, and creates intense disturbance to one's Constitution (tho it does evoke pleasing mental images of aged, berobed Supremes and Fed judges on the march, wattles wobbling in the wind as they thrust fists in the air, grip protest signs & shout angry slogans).

On the other hand, "Drinking the Kool-Aid" actually appeals to me when used appropriately, and this in fact is owing to its chilling historical association.

Well, ok, to be honest I'm defending this one because I used it myself recently, in a perhaps naiive assertion about Insurgents and Terrorists (my claim being that the former are not universally identical to the fanatic, superstitious zealots and militant psychos who "have definitely drunk of the Kool Aid... utilize suicide bombers and ruthlessly kill civillians"). Can we keep the Kool Aid, but use it with due respect? For surely, throughout the world a number of people do partake of the stuff; and the horror story of the Rev JJ and Jonestown--w/apologies to the 1001 Nights--"is such a tale, that were it written with a small needle in the innermost corner of the naked eye, still would be a lesson for the circumspect..."

Cheers.
M

[Roxanne]

Sith Happens

[fish head]

what, now, do we call it when someone makes an argument that assumes as proved the very thing they are trying to prove.

"Beggars the question." (I mean, if you want to be a purist, you might as well go all the way back.)

More like "buggers the question"

[Sandman]

"Homicide Bombers"
"Shock and Awe" (oh, wait -- 2003 ... sorry)
"Everything changed"
"People of Faith"

Any invocation of Godwin's Law. We get it already. Somebody ran out of arguments. Let's not get totally didactic about it, OK?

Anything with the word blog in it, starting with: blogosphere

However, I humbly submit at this time that we must set aside for preservation the following:

"doughy pantload"
"bloviating asshole"
"wanker"

[The Heretik]

To be clear, to be sure, wing nut, wingnut, imagination, drink the Kool Aid. Oops. Used Drink the Kool Aid today. I am floating on a Kool Aid Sea

[kac90b]

-family values (whatever they are)
-Fair & Balanced
-culture of life
-anything Terri Schiavo related
-Terri Schiavo's sick-ass parents and brother
-Sean Hannity
-Ann Coulter
-Michelle Malkin
-thinking of the children

I realize the last some of these are, sort of, people. But can't we please quit paying them the attention they don't deserve?

[Chuck]

"up-or-down vote"

Would someone please tell me how the hell one votes sideways?

[judgemc]

Intelligent Design

[Electoral Math]

"Frothy market"
"snowflake babies"

[suzanne]

remix

[Roxanne]

netroots

[Chris Clarke]

"nice guys"
"pie fight"
"that is SOOO [insert ludicrously recent time period]"

[Andrew]

Instead of just Rathergate, can I nominate every -gate we get when journalists can't be bothered to think up a good description for a scandal?

[dancinfool]

"Moving forward"
"Forward looking"
"Forward leaning"
"Going forward"

and any other "forward" cliche found in the Collected Works of Scott McClellan

[rose]

Metrics. They are measuring a thing for gods sake. How dare they turn "by any measure" into the bloody ass metrics of a stinking situation that probably should have been described by discussing various aspects anyway. What was it these wankers used to say? Oh, yeah, learn the language or leave the country. That was it.

Attack instead of criticize or disputed is making me tired.

pro-life because they most certainly are not, the term should probably be uterine control freaks.

[Andrew]

I just came back here and thought of another:
"Hearts and minds"

as in "Winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people"

It seems like ever since Tony said it, everyone's doing the same.

[gaswerer]

93o4ho Vangelis uses a technique of recording all tracks simultaneously on tape, using a device especially manufactured for him which he calls the "Direct box".
"He explains his customary method of approach. As soon as the musical idea is there, as many keyboards as possible are connected to the control-desk, which in turn are directly connected to the applicable tracks of the multi-trackmachine.
vangelis mp3