The English language is constantly evolving, and as new words and phrases come into fashion, others gradually fall out of use and eventually become obsolete. But for one American university, too many words and phrases, including some newcomers, are “misused, overused and useless,” and need to be dumped. So that’s precisely what “judges” at Lake Superior State University in Michigan do every year, when they select what they consider are the ten most offensive words or phrases currently doing the rounds on campus and then banish them for the following twelve months. For its 2023 list, the judges reviewed more than 1,500 submissions before deciding on their top, or rather, bottom, ten. And the number one offender this time around, is GOAT (the acronym of Greatest Of All Time). Now, having seriously got the judges’ goat, GOAT is banned for the whole of 2023. The university has been “outing” the least easy on the ear words and phrases since 1976, with more than 1,000 making it on to the roll of shame. The nine others out of circulation for 2023 are: inflection point, gaslighting, quiet quitting, moving forward, amazing, absolutely, it is what it is, and – does that make sense?