Use Better Words

Each year, Lake Superior State gives us a list of banished words. I’m usually in about 90% agreement. For example, at the end of 2023, they said we all need to stop using “GOAT”, “amazing”, “it is what it is” and about seven more. Spot on. But the list could be longer. Or, more to the point, we shouldn’t need a list at all because we should all work to be less boring.

If you hear people saying “lean in” and “at the end of the day” and you hear it often, it shouldn’t be your green-light to say those things, too. You should not want to sound like everyone else. If you hear a mother tell her daughter “I appreciate you” and then also hear a guy at the movie theater tell the person selling them popcorn, “I appreciate you” . . . well, the “feels” aren’t there.

When you speak, write social media updates, send texts or Snaps, or send Emails, I beg you …stop being boring and cliché. And if you need some help, here’s a list of things we should all stop saying following by a list of things we should start saying and some things that need to make a comeback.

STOP

Stop using “appreciate”, “amazing”, “awesome”:  Is it because these words start with “A” that they’re the most overused? We discussed “appreciate” above. At some point in the past 5 years, this replaced “thank you”, which never goes out of style. “Awesome” and “amazing” replaced “great” at some point in history, but now they’ve lost all impact. My wife made enchiladas for dinner and they were amazing. My doctor cured my lung condition and that’s amazing. Let’s try some of these. You will raise some eyebrows, but also won’t sound like you’re trying to hard…

START USING

• Terrific
• Magnificent
• Marvelous
• Super
• Fabulous

Grab a thesaurus if you want to take it to the next level, but mostly …just use your brain. These are words you already know, but they’ve gone out of style because we simply rely on “amazing” and “awesome.

STOP

Stop using “appreciate you” and try something like… …

• I’m grateful for ____________
• Thank you
• This means so much to me
• This warms my heart
• You’ve made my day a little brighter
• You are too thoughtful

“I appreciate you” has lost most of it’s meaning. Work on it. If your waitress brings you a full glass of water or tops of your coffee, it doesn’t warrant an “I appreciate you.”  And if a co-worker brings you a Starbucks just-because, that co-worker deserves something more meaningful like “you’ve made my day a little brighter.”

Please. Stop being boring and predictable.

START

I need your help. This was brought to my attention by friend and artist, Dragan Pop Art. He’d like to start bringing back some classic fillers and phrases, and so would I.

• Alas
• Kit and caboodle
• And how
• Rigmarole
• Hijinks
• Have at you!
• Thrice
• Perhaps
• Please (instead of “sure”)
• Yes (instead of “yeah”)
• Yes, please

Those last three are there for Mary Lou. Oh, she hated “yeah”. And she hated “yup” and was mostly spoken by Dad to annoy her.

The entire point is to be less boring. Life is short. Have some fun. Words matter.

“Thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become habits, habits become character, character becomes destiny.” — Lao-Tze

Now I need your help. Leave a comment. We need more classics reborn. What am I missing? We speak a great language that evolved over a thousand years and let’s use English in it’s most fantastic way possible. It will change your brain chemistry.*

*I do not actually know if using interesting words will change anything in your brain, but it feels like it will