It's the most wonderful time of the year ... for word nerds, anyway.
Not only do we have all these lovely "word of the year" announcements, we also have the Lake Superior State University Banished Words list coming up. Sure, we're word lovers, but there are limits, especially when certain words are perpetually misused and/or overused.
For me, they're typically terms in political talking points. Longtime readers know my distaste for politics, at least as practiced over the past few decades, but if it's possible, the political talking points have become more inane, more out of touch with reality, and far less original.
Case in point: "Status quo," usually preceded by "failing" or "broken." Because it's a talking point, no evidence is deemed necessary (which is very useful when you don't have any readily at hand, or evidence that what you propose to fix it has any actual worth other than scoring political points).