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University: It's 'couth' to use neglected, expressive words

Posted at 10:36 AM, Jan 02, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-02 10:36:19-05

In the wake of words deemed annoying or worthy of banishment, A Detroit university has offered up a batch it wants back in the linguistic limelight.

Wayne State University on Tuesday released its annual Word Warriors list. It includes "insuperable," meaning impossible to overcome, and "nugatory," of no value or importance. Among other "neglected" words it wants to revive are "couth," which means cultured, refined and well-mannered, and "frangible," referring to something that's fragile.

Northern Michigan's Lake Superior State University on Sunday released its 43rd annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness. Its top vote-getter was "fake news," which was recently found to be the second most annoying word or phrase used by Americans in an annual Marist College poll, behind "whatever."