171: 10 Words & Phrases to Banish in 2022

According to research, there was a phrase that was used over 1000% more on video calls last year. Can you guess? Here's an animated hint. Where's the sound? Your microphone. It's not on. Click on the button with the picture of the microphone. Every time a villain calls in, this happens. Hello. Hello. Now we can hear you, but every we cannot see you passing time. That's like talking to my parents. Welcome to the Indestructible PR Podcast, where we use current events and tested media and PR strategies to help you manage a crisis and build an indestructible reputation. What's one way to have an easygoing indestructible reputation? How about not annoying people with words that annoy them? Or maybe a trigger to really annoy them. So in this episode, mass communication miscommunication. This episode is going to be one that's going to ease us into the new year. This is a list that came out in 2021 from Lake Superior State University, which I thought, when I saw that, I thought, I know it's not in Minnesota. Is this a school in Wisconsin? But no, I had to look it up. It's in Sault Ste. Marie. They come out with a list of every single year of the banished words of the year. And this started in 1976 by an employee of the school who was the PR guy, which is an ingenious way to encourage the avoidance of words and terms that are overworked, redundant, oxymoronic, cliched, illogical, nonsensical, and otherwise ineffective, bold, baffling, or irritating. Speaking of irritating, the reason why I'm doing this easier episode is because, as you can tell, I've lost my voice. I've been under the weather the past few days and I needed to get this podcast out. I had a few that I needed to batch, so I thought I'll do this easy one right now because it will be quick and people won't have to listen to this voice for much longer. But here we go. We're going to banish my voice quickly as soon as we get through the list of the words you need to banish in 2022. As I go through this list, I'll read through the words and the phrases and then I'm going to read the accompanying text and copy that they've added onto this list. I'll include a link in the show notes so you can see the list online yourself. Here we go. As you hear the words and phrases, do a self assessment. Do you use these words that cause miscommunication I'm going to do the same. Number one I don't use this, but other people do. But it's Number one, it's Wait. What? This phrase most frequently found in text or on social media, it's ubiquitous imperative is a question that is a failed response to a statement to express astonishment, misunderstanding or disbelief that was added by a wordsmith and they ended it with I. I hate it. Do you use that phrase? I don't, but I see it a lot. Number two this one of this entire list, I am the most guilty of this phrase. No worries. Nominated by writers nationwide for misuse and overuse, this phrase incorrectly substitutes for you're welcome. When someone says thank you, guilty, my hand is raised. A further bungling relates to insensitivity. If I'm not worried, I don't want anyone telling me not to worry. A contributor added. That is a good one. So no worries. I need to ban in 2022. Number three I definitely have said this one, but I have self banished this in 2021 at the end of the day. So 20 plus years after the original banishment of this phrase in 1999, it is back again in modern day, you know, present day times because so many politicians and pundits have used it in the last year. Isn't that interesting? Number four I think we all say this, but next time you do, think of this list and try and banish it. That being said, the nominator cited this phrase as verbal filler. Absolutely true. It is redundant justification and pompous posturing for instance. However or but even that said does the job of the transition instead of the entire phrase. That being said at the end of the day, if you will, it already has been. So remove the filler. Number five I have seen this one everywhere and the reason why I know I have never said it or written it is because I've hated it ever since I saw it the first time. Asking for a friend. So this misuse and overuse is through deceit because the friend is a ruse. This cutesy phrase, often deployed in social media posts in a coy attempt to deter self identification isn't fooling anyone. Paraphrasing one person said once used to avoid embarrassment, as in do you know a good proctologist? I'm asking for a friend, but now it's an overused tag. Number six I hear this one all the time. Circle back. If we must circle back to our previous location to return to a prior subject, let's just circle back about why we need to Banish this jargon. It's a conversation, not the Winter Olympics. Number seven. Oh, I hear this one a lot. I don't even know if I say it a lot. I know I've said it, but I don't know if I've said it a lot. But either way, it's gone. Deep dive. The only time to dive into something is when entering a body of water, not going more in depth into a particular subject or book. So do we need deep? I mean, does anyone dive into the shallow end? Good point. All right, the next part of the list. These are the 2022 banish words and terms deriving from COVID 19 matters. COVID 19 is here, but we're getting ready to get rid of these words now. Number eight is a word. And I know I've said this on the podcast because I remember telling this anecdote. The first time I heard this phrase was in 2001 when I was speaking to an employee from the newly formed DHS. Was DHS formed right in 2001? I don't remember where it happened, but eventually they landed at dhs because I was going to get a job at DHS anyway. That's beside the point. But it was the first time that I heard it, and I thought, that's a cool term. And I said it for years and now I've banished it. And that phrase is new normal. It's an overused catch all for ways COVID 19 affects humankind. It was a banishment finalist last year for similar reasons. So we want to wipe out the new normal for good. Because you know what? It's kind of the normal, right? Number nine. Number nine. Number nine. Number 9. If you know, you know. This phrase was part of the opener. You're on mute. So people switch from in person exchanges to virtual meetings to follow social distancing protocol and COVID 19. And the unwitting deafening silence happens on both sides of the camera. So it's time to banish the. You're on mute. What do you do when you hear that? Me, I just sit there and stare at them. And people figure it out on their own. All right, number 10. And this is so ironic because I decided to ban this word, like, two days ago. Was it two days ago? Yeah, it was on Monday. I decided just to ban this word because it was overused. So I created my own banish list, and this word was in it. Supply chain Word watchers noticed the frequent unfortunate appearance of this phrase toward the end of this year as the coronavirus persisted. It's become automatically included in reporting of consumer goods shortages or perceived shortages. In other words, it's a buzzword, so it is time to lose it. In every podcast, I end with an indestructible tip to help you build an indestructible reputation and also to help your communication. This episode's tip comes from the president of lssu who says, say what you mean and mean what you say. Can't get any easier or harder than that. That's all for this week on the podcast. Thanks for listening. Bye for now.