Giving Expressive English Words a Second Chance

At the beginning of each year, Lake Superior State University (LSSU) publishes its Banished Words List consisting of English words as well as phrases that have been deemed overused and abused and thus need to be banished from the current consciousness. LSSU began this Banished Words List in 1976 and it continues to this day. For the 2012 edition, some of the words that made it to the notorious list are amazing (which made the top of the list), baby bump, ginormous, man cave and occupy.

On the flip side, another American university has, this time, come to the defense of some English language words. Theirs is a list of words not for banishment but for revival. Wayne State University has come up with its own word list consisting of words that they believe should be once again, part of the communication process. Instead of banishing words to oblivion, WSU is all for reviving English language words and giving these words the chance to prove their worth and reason for being. A group within WSU called Word Warriors has made it their calling to give deserving words a chance for glory once again.

Über and Other German Loanwords

"Oprah is so über rich!"
"Those boots are über-hot!"
"My car is über fast, not to mention über sleek."
"What an über-difficult exam that was!"

Outside of Germany, the word "über" has been used more than enough times in the media and by teenagers, young adults and those wanting to be part of the hip and in crowd. What does the word über mean and where did it come from?

Über is a loanword from the German language. It is both a prefix and a word in its own right. The letter "u" has an umlaut (two dots above the letter) when spelled. As a loanword in English, über is most often used to emphasize something, to say that something is big, superior or over the top, among other things. It über denotes an increase in quantity or elevation. Über can also mean elite, superior, predominant, over, and something in excess. The actual meaning of the word über will always depend on the context in which the word is used.  It is a widely used loanword in pop culture that is sometimes spelled in English as "uber" or "ueber" and appended to a word either with or without a dash.

Über's entrance into the English language