January 01, 2004

Banished Words

Lake Superior State University has released their annual list of Words Banished From the Queen's English. Among my favorites were "Companion Animals" and "bling-bling." Personally, I never, ever understood why people would use that last word, except to mock it.

Apparently the term was coined by rapper (Or should that be "rappists"? I wouldn't call them "musicians") BG and has made it into the Oxford English Dictionary. Just given its origins (just do a google search for the lyrics), I don't think I'd ever want to use the term, not to mention how ridiculous it sounds.

I've heard it used exactly once in real life, after I described how technical writers make $50/hour to a high school kid visiting BJU. He told me that if I was a technical writer, I'd be "blingin.'" No, it was a white guy who said it. That's the problem with rappers trying to make up their own language:

"This once street slang for items of luxury has now become so overused and abused that (everyone) has incorporated it into their vocabularies. Yes, your mom might say it. Nothing could kill the mystique of a word faster." Todd Facklas, Chicago
Posted by Blog Jones at January 1, 2004 11:03 AM
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