On last night’s Jeopardy, I learned about Lake Superior State University’s Banished Words List, “imprecise, trite, and meaningless words” that take the lazy way out and only confusing matters by over-relying on.

GOAT topped their list this year. Other words or phrases making the list: Amazing, Absolutely, and Gaslighting. The complete list can be found on their website.

Had I been asked for my opinion, I would’ve suggested “Iconic.” Ugh. I’m so over that word being thrown into every article and obituary. I started to make a graphic of all the times “iconic” popped up in obituaries this year and got tired and stopped. There were many more instances than the examples below. Some of the people we lost in 2022 were iconic; many were not. My main beef is just how lazy people are by throwing that word on everyone and everything lately.