Wordsmiths: Banish "Maverick," "Bailout"

It's that time of year again when the mavericks at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan issue their iconic listing of words that must be banished for being mis-used, over-used or generally useless during the past year.

Their desperate search to protect the Queen's English promises to be a game changer for speechwriters and journalists from Wall Street to Main Street who might be green with envy for not being the first dude to come up with more original wordsmithing,

The list is not so much aimed at making a monkey out of the media but to ask that phrases which are too, too familiar be given a staycation in the coming year.

And Lake Superior has no for text message emoticons, either.

This bailout of words suffering from literary abuse has been released every New Year's Day since 1976. And while not the winner of five nominations, their Web site invites the public to submit their own nominations for next year's list.

(Oh yes, and carbon footprint.)

This Year's List: