Banned Words of 2010™: The Final Cut

Because it's never too early to put the world on notice...

1. Green Shoots. One month of less-weak data, does not a green shoot make. Where the economics commentariat sees green shoots, the rest of the world sees weeds.
2. Gamechanger (e.g., "The attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack is a gamechanger for Republicans"). It's not a game, asshole.
3. Obamism. Conjures B- and C-grade and/or self-appointed public intellectuals (Cough! Andrew Sullivan and David Brooks! Cough!) desperately striving for posterity.
   
4. New Media. It's not new anymore.
   
5. Cougar. Banal. Sexist. Just plain offensive. Bear in mind who the real cougar fans are, people.
6. Baby Bump. Straight out of gossip rags that make People read like Dostoyevsky.
7. Gang of [insert number of senators here]. Because to make sense, the people in the applicable gang ought to be leftists (which are in extremely short supply in the United States Senate), and because the construction is overused to the point of inanity (by TPM).
8. Slams/Smacks Down/Rips¹ (e.g., "X slams Y over Z calling bloggers 'pajama-clad bedwetters' on 'Hardball'"). TPM strikes again, although HuffPo is also a huge offender.
   
9. Walk Back (e.g. "Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum walks back his comments about party boss Rush Limbaugh"). Josh Marshall hits a triple. Maybe he's busy expanding his new media (oops!) empire, but the editing at TPM has become extraordinarily lazy this year.
   
10. Ack. Number 10 was tough. I was down to "Dither", "Sausage-Grinder", "Bankster," and "The New New/Normal", and "[insert subject of non-scandal du jour here]-Gate" (e.g., "GatesGate," "TravelGate", etc.), but I'm going to go with Disappointed, as in "I'm so disappointed with Obama". Let me clue you into something: it's not about you and your disappointment. Whining about your disappointment is boring your friends, exhausting your family, and annoying your colleagues. Instead of ceaselessly wringing your hands about your disappointment, your buyer's remorse, or how you've been betrayed/sold out/thrown under innumerable buses, why don't you put down your laptop, get out of your house, and do something about it in 2010? March. Write letters. Make an appointment with your congressperson. Field primary challengers to Blue Dogs. Hell, field a primary challenger to Obama if that's what you think is best. Grab the pitchforks and torches you've been calling for and lead. Just Do (rather than say) Something. I guarantee that you'll feel better.

Bonus Bans: Oaky, Finish, Mouth Feel, Fruit Forward or any other cliché that describe wine. Unless you're Robert Parker, please just STFU and enjoy the stuff.

For kicks, here are the Banned Words of 2009™ and the Banned Words of 2008™.

Happy 2010, Hegemaniacs.

¹Thanks to Loretta in comments for suggesting the addition of "Rips".