Thursday, December 4, 2008

Election "Unwords"


With the US presidential election well and truly over, and Barack Obama on his way to the White House, I feel the time has come to call for the banning of words and terms that were overused, misused and occasionally abused to the point of infuriation during campaigning.

In the style of the German "Unwort des Jahres", I would therefore like to present my nominations for "Unwords of the Election", some of which I sincerely hope are consigned to the dustbin of history for all eternity:

  • I approve this message
  • Pork barrel
  • Lipstick
  • Endorse
  • Maverick
  • Change
  • Joe the Plumber (he was neither called "Joe" nor was he a certified plumber)
  • Swing states
  • Pundant (which I heard Obama, McCain, Palin, Hillary Clinton and others use incorrectly for "pundit")
  • Sarah Palin

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I like "pundant"! Don't you reckon it could actually be referring to a pedantic pundit?...