Words and all that

The New York Times has joined The Associated Press in getting all icky-gooey over "illegal immigrant." From its stylebook:

Newspeak in the Associated Press Stylebook:

The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term “illegal immigrant” or the use of “illegal” to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that “illegal” should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.

For the "questions we never thought to ask" file: Why do people use nope even though no is shorter?

RIP, the pun:

These mind-bending two paragraphs really stopped my when I was crusin' through the news online Saturday evening:

Wow, what a turnaround time for the Urban Dictionary:

Wow, what a turnaround time for the Urban Dictionary:

OK, this is really, really nitpicky. This headline about about a southern Indiana crime caught my eye:

Good grief:

A West Point think tank has issued a paper warning America about “far right” groups such as the “anti-federalist” movement, which supports “civil activism, individual freedoms and self-government.”

The linguists at Lake Superior State University join me in distaste for the "fiscal cliff" metaphor, but not because it's innacurate or misleading (my contention). They seem to dislike it merely because it's been so overused.

"Fiscal cliff" heads the 38th annual "List of Words to be Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness" put out by Lake Superior State University in Michigan.