University 'banishes' words for 2013

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 don'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 don'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.