"Respondents to an annual Michigan college survey of overused and misused words and phrases say "6-7" is "cooked" and should come to a massive full-stop heading into the new year. Those are among the top 10 words on the 50th annual "Banished Words List," released Thursday by Lake Superior State University. The tongue-in-cheek roundup of overused slang started in 1976 as a New Year's Eve party idea, and is affectionately called the list of "Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.""
""The list definitely represents the fad and vernacular trends of the younger generation," said David Travis, Lake Superior State University president. "Social media allows a greater opportunity to misunderstand or misuse words. We're using terms that are shared through texting, primarily, or through posting with no body language or tone context. It's very easy to misunderstand these words." Few phrases in 2025 befuddled parents, teachers and others over the age of, say 40, more than "6-7.""
Lake Superior State University published the 50th annual Banished Words List naming overused and misused words and phrases to be banished. Respondents flagged "6-7" as "cooked" and urged it be dropped heading into the new year. Around 1,400 submissions came from all 50 states and several countries including Uzbekistan, Brazil and Japan. Top 10 entries included demure, incentivize, perfect, gift/gifted, my bad and reach out; my bad and reach out previously appeared on the list in 1998 and 1994. The university president said social media and texting increase opportunities to misunderstand or misuse words by removing body language and tone. Dictionary.com selected "6-7" as its 2025 word of the year, and the term spread among Gen Z as an inside joke with unclear meaning.
Read at ABC7 Los Angeles
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