2021 Most Annoying Words
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Are there any words that set your ears ablaze – at work, in your home life? Which words have people found particularly off-putting over the last year?
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The Atlantic ran a poll with its readers and – after a series of X versus Y buzzword showdowns – two contenders remained: ‘value proposition’ and ‘lean in’. Finally, a winner emerged: ‘lean in’. Above all, readers found ‘lean in’ to be the most cringeworthy example of corporate speak.
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Preply surveyed 2000 English speaking adults about the slang they found most annoying. Their top bugaboos?
Most Annoying Slang 2021
i. Ok Boomer
ii. Bae
iii. Bye, Felicia
iv. On fleek
v. Woke
vi. Mansplain
vii. Zaddy
viii. Yas
ix. Yeet
x. Periodt
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Marist Poll surveyed ~600 American adults about their most annoying word for 2021. For more than 10 years of their polls, the same word has come out on top: ‘whatever’. This year, however, the top annoying words they report are: ‘Trump’ and ‘Coronavirus’.
If you dig deeper into the Marist word cloud, you’ll see more of the polarization that we have experienced over the last few years.
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Since 1976, Lake Superior State University has sought nominations from around the world – the US, Canada, Belgium, England, Norway, Australia… – for words that are so annoying they should be banished. After combing through all of the submissions, they released the most common responses for 2022 and 2021. We’ll include both below.
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Words to be Banished. 2022
In alphabetical order
i. Asking for a friend
ii. At the end of the day
iii. Circle back
iv. Deep dive
v. New normal
vi. No worries
viii. Supply chain
ix. That being said
x. Wait, what?
xi. You’re on mute
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Words To Be Banished.2021
In alphabetical order …
i. COVID-19 (also COVID, coronavirus, Rona)
ii. I know, right?
iii. In an abundance of caution (various phrasings)
iv. In these uncertain times (various phrasings)
v. ‘Karen’
vi. Pivot
vii. Social distancing
viii. Sus
ix. Unprecedented
x. We’re all in this together
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Header: Roy Lichtenstein. Ohhh… Alright … 1964
