Totally Overused Words
Those of you who have been at Galloway since sixth grade remember the iconic “Dead Words Project.” The entire sixth grade class would wear their darkest attire, and we would have a literal funeral for our “dead” or overused word. This consisted of words such as “funny”, “like”, and (my personal word) “pretty.” All of these had been declared “dead” by our teacher Ms. Starkman. For the rest of the year in her class, we avoided using the words, but as our educational careers have continued, they have made a reappearance.
You would be hard-pressed to sit in on a class discussion without someone using the word “like”. It can be a sign of uncertainty and hesitation in a student’s thoughts. At this point, these have turned into filler words. By continually overusing these words, they eventually lose all their meaning and impact.
These words should honestly be avoided at all costs in writing because they totally take away and basically make it seem like the writer has literally no idea what they are talking about.
Vivi’s Personal List of 5 Overused Words:
Literally - the Merriam Webster definition of “literally” is “in a literal manner or sense”; however, now the word has taken on the taste of attempting to intensify and does not necessarily have to be describing something that is true.
Totally - this word means “in a total or complete manor” but similar to literally it now is primarily used to intensify one’s point.
Amazing - originally meaning “causing astonishment, great wonder, or surprise” but today, it is used as a synonym to describe something that is “cool.”
Honestly - this one I personally use a lot. The actual definition of it is “in a truthful manner” but, similar to the other words, it is generally a spatial verb filler.
Very - very means “to a high degree.” But frankly, this word has virtually lost all meaning.
If we all want to be the young scholars that Mr. Mathis portrays us to be, let’s stop using these words. There is an entire dictionary full of synonyms for these “dead” words!
By Vivi Melkonian