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CNN Live At Daybreak

This Year's Worst Words

Aired January 02, 2004 - 05:57   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For more than a quarter century, Michigan's Lake Superior State University has published its year end list of words and phrases that should be removed from your vocabulary.
Our Bruce Morton takes a good look at this year's worst words, starting at number one, of course.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The number one word on the list, metrosexual, which means urban men interested in clothes and good grooming. But other words mean that and critics note that in Washington or Paris, where the subway is called metro, it sounds like a name for someone who only does it underground.

X is on the loser list, as in X dream, X-Files and so on.

Exasperated is still OK.

Punked, meaning to duke, is on the list, and it should go. Punk used to be a noun referring to lime-haired kids and punk rock. Nothing duplicitous about them.

Ling-ling for flashy jewelry, what's wrong with just calling it flashy?

Embedded journalists?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are in the city of Najaf in central Iraq.

MORTON: Well, we know what that was, reporters traveling with the military in Iraq. But it always sounded as if you were in bed with your source.

L o L is on the list. That's e-mail for laugh out loud. But years ago it meant little old ladies, like the voters who turned out for Barry Goldwater when he ran for president.

Shots rang out is on the list, and shots probably don't ring. But Snoopy in Charles Schultzes' "Peanuts" always used it when he was writing a novel. Maybe we could keep it.

Handcrafted latte is on the list, but the trouble is Americans don't understand latte, handcrafted or not. In Italy, it's hot coffee and hot milk mixed. Here, they always foam it. Uck.

The University objects to sanitary landfill and prefers dump. OK. The two manmade things you can see from outer space are the Great Wall of China and the dump in Staten Island.

Sweat like a pig ought to go, the University says, because, the fact is pigs don't sweat. Oops.

Captured alive is on the list because, face it, it's hard to capture a corpse.

And the list makers confess one error. Their 2003 list urged a ban on frozen tundra as redundant. But as any Green Bay Packers fan can tell you, tundra is sometimes downright squishy. They only freeze it for the big games.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: My favorite was sanitary landfill. Love that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 2, 2004 - 05:57   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For more than a quarter century, Michigan's Lake Superior State University has published its year end list of words and phrases that should be removed from your vocabulary.
Our Bruce Morton takes a good look at this year's worst words, starting at number one, of course.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The number one word on the list, metrosexual, which means urban men interested in clothes and good grooming. But other words mean that and critics note that in Washington or Paris, where the subway is called metro, it sounds like a name for someone who only does it underground.

X is on the loser list, as in X dream, X-Files and so on.

Exasperated is still OK.

Punked, meaning to duke, is on the list, and it should go. Punk used to be a noun referring to lime-haired kids and punk rock. Nothing duplicitous about them.

Ling-ling for flashy jewelry, what's wrong with just calling it flashy?

Embedded journalists?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are in the city of Najaf in central Iraq.

MORTON: Well, we know what that was, reporters traveling with the military in Iraq. But it always sounded as if you were in bed with your source.

L o L is on the list. That's e-mail for laugh out loud. But years ago it meant little old ladies, like the voters who turned out for Barry Goldwater when he ran for president.

Shots rang out is on the list, and shots probably don't ring. But Snoopy in Charles Schultzes' "Peanuts" always used it when he was writing a novel. Maybe we could keep it.

Handcrafted latte is on the list, but the trouble is Americans don't understand latte, handcrafted or not. In Italy, it's hot coffee and hot milk mixed. Here, they always foam it. Uck.

The University objects to sanitary landfill and prefers dump. OK. The two manmade things you can see from outer space are the Great Wall of China and the dump in Staten Island.

Sweat like a pig ought to go, the University says, because, the fact is pigs don't sweat. Oops.

Captured alive is on the list because, face it, it's hard to capture a corpse.

And the list makers confess one error. Their 2003 list urged a ban on frozen tundra as redundant. But as any Green Bay Packers fan can tell you, tundra is sometimes downright squishy. They only freeze it for the big games.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: My favorite was sanitary landfill. Love that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com