( CNN ) -- Dear 2012 , now that you 're gone , please take these lame words with you : trending , spoiler alert , bucket list , superfood , guru and job creators . Oh yeah , and do n't forget yolo . That 's the message from scholars at Lake Superior State University . For the 38th straight year , the tiny state college tucked away in Michigan 's Upper Peninsula unveiled on Monday its list of useless , overused or misused terms : 12 words or phrases the school wants `` banished '' from the English language in 2013 . `` I 'm in the word banishment business , '' admits university PR director Tom Pink , who helped whittle down the list from thousands of nominations submitted to the school 's website . `` There 's a slightly serious side to this , but mostly we 're trying to have fun with it . '' Sure it 's fun . But it also makes you wonder why some new words stick and others do n't . English warmly welcomes some new words into its family for generations . But other words are treated like one-night stands . We love 'em and leave 'em . Here 's the list : . 1 . Yolo , an acronym for the phrase `` you only live once '' Who needs `` carpe diem '' when you 've got yolo -- branded on Twitter , in pop song lyrics and in celebrity tattoos . Now it looks like yolo 's in trouble . Twitter hashtag # In2013NoMore includes Tweeters swearing off yolo forever . Yolo is annoying because it encourages `` wannabe Twitter philosophers who think they 've uncovered a deep secret of life , '' wrote Brendan Cotter of Grosse Pointe Park , Michigan , who nominated the word for the list . Sadly , poor little yolo 's story is all too common , says Geoffrey Nunberg , a linguist who teaches at the University of California at Berkeley School of Information . `` These words that are often very effective and attractive have very short half-lives because everybody picks them up at once , and they lose their punch , '' says Nunberg , who calls this phenomenon the `` nine-day wonder . '' `` If the words even last nine days at all . '' Related : 'Twitterverse ' among annoying words of '12 , poll says . The list takes shots at serious words , too : . 2 . Fiscal cliff , a media term to describe expiring federal tax cuts and across-the-board government spending cuts which are set to become effective 12/31/2012 . `` Just once , I would like to hear it referred to as a financial crisis , '' wrote a nominator from Johnstown , Pennsylvania . Appropriately , her name is Barbara Cliff . `` Journalists always like cliffs , '' Nunberg jokes . `` There 's more pressure to use phrases like that , because if you soft peddle things , nobody 's going to read the story . '' Two other politically tinged phrases made the list . 3 . Kick the can down the road , a metaphorical phrase that describes the concept of substituting a short-term fix in place of a final decision . 4 . Job creator/creators , a person or business directly responsible for adding employed workers to the economy . Words like `` job creators , '' Nunberg says , represent an entire set of phrases that bubbled up during the 2012 presidential campaign . These words reflect recent changes in the way Americans talk about differing economic and social classes . `` It 's the '47 % , ' the 'moochers , ' the 'makers and takers . ' '' These kinds of words , Nunberg suggests , fuel the fire of class warfare in American life . The list is peppered with words embraced by corporate culture , Nunberg says . 5 . Passion/passionate , an intense devotion to an idea , thing or endeavor . The popularity of this word results from the `` bloating of the language of corporate life , '' Nunberg says . `` People are expected to manifest a kind of emotional attachment and investment in their jobs that was n't required back when jobs were a lot more secure . '' 6 . Superfood , a nonscientific word for food with extremely high nutritional benefits . It 's a term which Nunberg says shows how influential the explosion of marketing has become in our culture . Another food word on the list : . 7 . Boneless wings , small hand-held pieces of processed chicken without bones which are often enjoyed in sports bars . `` Can we just call them chicken ( pieces ) ? '' pleaded John McNamara , of Lansing , Michigan , who nominated the word . 8 . Trending , currently popular . `` There are lots of ways to say it , but none in as few as eight letters , '' jokes Nunberg . `` It 's a little trendy . '' Here 's one that Pink says has lost its meaning : . 9 . Bucket list , a personal list of experiences people desire before they die , also known as `` kicking the bucket '' This one has got to go , says Pink . There was a time when it could mean something like climbing a mountain , he explains . Now a bucket list can include less-lofty pursuits -- like catching a two-for-one sale at the mall . Rounding out the rest of the dozen : spoiler alert , guru and double down . Words and phrases that almost made the list -- but failed : `` wheelhouse , '' `` skill set . '' Also , Pink singled out an annoying phrase that fell under particular consideration . That phrase was , `` I know , right . '' Says Pink , `` That one came close . '' What do you think ? Here are some suggestions from CNN commenters : . `` Banish 'Mother Nature ' from weather references FOREVER ! '' writes snowdogg . `` I would like to request that the words 'epic ' , 'chillax ' , and 'splitsville ' also be removed from the world 's vernacular , '' suggests Daniel . Also this gem , from gemurray : `` The author uses one of the words that drives me crazy in the last couple of paragraphs - 'Interwebs ' has got to go too ! It 's either 'Internet ' or 'World Wide Web ' , there is no such thing as ' '' interwebs ! ' '' F-word and A-word . The F-word and the A-word are often nominated for the list , but Pink says offensive words are n't considered . `` We try to keep it lighthearted . '' Nunberg 's book , `` Ascent of the A-Word , '' follows a**hole from its invention by WWII GIs to today , where the word has become a `` basic term that a lot of us use all the time in our emotional and moral lives , for example when somebody cuts us off on the highway . '' In fact , Nunberg says words from the 1940s -- like the A-word -- are more likely to survive than words invented in the '90s . `` You 'd think more of the older words would be obsolete now , but no . '' More words are being invented now than ever before -- partly because of easy and fast communication on the interwebs . ( Sorry , gemurray ) `` But the more words that are produced increases the competition , '' says Nunberg . There 's a kind of process of natural selection . The words that survive often `` become signs of important social movements or changes , '' he says . The loser words will die -- never to be spoken again by countless mouths of future generations . Hey little yolo , if you 're reading this , you better find some new friends . And fast . If you know what 's good for ya .
NEW : CNN commenters suggest epic , chillax and interwebs . Comment: Lighthearted list includes fiscal cliff , job creator , yolo , trending , bucket list . Words offer clues to how society is changing , says linguist .