EGREGIOUS

My brother Norman says that I overuse the word "egregious". I defend myself by saying, "Well, some things ARE just egregious; no other word suffices!"

Do you remember in The Princess Bride when Inigo tells Vizzini, "You keep using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means"?

The word was "inconceivable".

Sometimes I feel that way about people using words; I think that they don't know the meanings of the words.

I compiled a list of overused words:

AWESOME
AMAZING
AWFULLY
BEAUTIFUL
LITERALLY
ABSOLUTELY
EXCELLENT
BASICALLY
DEFINITELY
TERRIFIC
INTERESTING
REALLY
ACTUALLY
VERY
SERIOUSLY
GREAT
SUDDENLY
QUITE

I especially enjoyed the article from The Seattle Times about "banished words and phrases". I agree that they should be banished.

CLICK HERE to read the article.