The compilers of the 37th "List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse, and General Uselessness" say it's amazing that "amazing" didn't make their annual list earlier. With more than 1,500 nominations from around the world, the overused superlative topped this year's list, followed by "baby bump," "shared sacrifice," "occupy," and "blowback," the AP reports. Wrote one "amazing" nominator, "Hair is not 'amazing.' Shoes are not 'amazing.' I saw Martha Stewart use the word 'amazing' six times in the first five minutes of her television show. Help!"
The list, compiled by Michigan's Lake Superior State University, also included "man cave," "ginormous," and "thanking you in advance"—which is "a condescending and challenging way to say, 'Since I already thanked you, you have to do this,'" one nominator wrote. The university stresses that the list is tongue-in-cheek. "A lot of people can take this wrong. We don't mean any malice when we publish it," a spokesman says. "If it makes you angry, it gets you thinking about language. If it gets you laughing, it gets you thinking about language. It's done its job—to get you to think about how you express yourself." The last entries on the dozen-word list are: pet parent, win the future, trickeration, and the new normal. (More English language stories.)
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