Several times this decade I have reviewed the annual Banished Words issued by Lake Superior State University. Designed by the institution to retire “overworked, redundant, oxymoronic, cliched, illogical, and nonsensical” words, I started writing about the list after a lively conversation with my then-WSU colleagues in January 2022. Since then, I have also offered my two cents about the Banished Words of 2023 and 2025.

That brings us to the 2026 words. Did my writing improve so much over the past 365 days that I no longer resort to “cliched” words and phrases when it comes to this blog and elsewhere? Hardly. But before I identify the words on the list I shamelessly used this past year, let me take a quick moment to address the most cringe-worthy trend of 2025…

Full stop. I learned about the 67 trend from our family priest. During a perfect September evening, Fr. Jeff spoke about the massive trend to a group of us while Sloan helped him fill in the blanks in a very non-demure way. As a way for him to reach out to the students of St. Mary and incentivize good behavior, Fr. Jeff visits each class on a weekly basis. It was during these visits that he learned firsthand about the trend, leaving his mind cooked. This might be my bad, but as our priest spoke about 67 (complete with hand motions), I came to the conclusion that the St. Mary student body wasn’t as gifted as I thought.

When reflecting on this list, I can confidently say that I don’t use 70% of the words on it (Demure? Cooked? Full stop?). However, I do lazily reach for some of the prominent adjectives more often than I should. Apparently I don’t give perfect the prestige it deserves because I often use it to describe the seemingly average from pizza to apps to board games. The other word I turn to is massive—both in speech and writing. Whether to describe my blogging audience or the outpouring of a response, I don’t know if I assign it the true quantity it deserves.

The other word I use from the list is actually a phrase—one that I am sure makes GenZ cringe. Yes, I tend to reach out a lot. Whether it is to schedule a meeting, simmer tensions, or make an acquaintance, those I work with will tell you that I do a lot of “reaching out.”

I don’t know if many of the words on this list agitate me so much that I personally want to see them retired ASAP. However, if you did press me, I would say that cooked needs to go. There have been too many times I found myself at wit’s end listening to the teenyboppers on my children’s YouTube shows saying “cooked-this” and “cooked-that.” Please make it stop.

So that is my very demure reaction to the 2026 Banished Words. If you have any thoughts, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Don’t Blink.