Jan 6 - Is it Yanny or Laurel?

Guess what? There are words that are on the 'bad' list for 2019.  CNN's article on banished words is HERE. The organization that is the source of this list of banished words is the Lake Superior State University in Michigan.  This is their 44th list of "Banished Words". "Thought leader, grapple, optics, ghosting and platform all made the 2019 list, which ran heavy on words from the world of politics -- a natural result in the age of Trump. POTUS, FLOTUS, SCOTUS, litigate, collusion and the phrase, "most important election of our time," should also be banned from our daily usage, according to the list. The school in Sault Ste. Marie puts out a list every year of words that should be "banished from the Queen's English" for being overused, misused or just plain useless". The Lake Superior post is HERE.  The Archives of banished words over the decades is HERE. Last year's words included fake news, nothingburger, gig economy, impactful.  The first words, in 1976, included: at this point in time, meaningful, input, macho, scenario, dialogue, call for resignation. For another point of view, I went to Ranker.  Ranker is a site that ranks things.  The voting on words doesn't show large numbers were engaged, but the list is interesting. Here are the top 5 words that were considered overused in 2018.  They are: bae (person's boyfriend or girlfriend) lit (how fun something is) yoked (well muscled) Yass Kween (verbal high five) Bruh (what you say when someone says something stupid) This last one is an interesting story.  It is 'Laurel or Yanny'  and is known as the Yanny or Laurel debate. Do you hear Laurel or Yanny in the audio clip...here is Wikipedia's entry.  It was a Twitter post that went viral and made the headlines in May 2018.  It is an auditory illusion - when the audio clip has been slowed to lower frequencies, then the word "Yanny" has been heard by more listeners,  and while faster, playback loudens "laurel".   And our pictures today:  a framed print one of the collages in my Bark Series.  This is a template from RB to use for promotion.  Following it are the abstract image collages showcasing the shapes and textures to be found in bark.