Bathetic Word List
Contest Details

  1. What the Bathetic Word List is
  2. What to submit
  3. How to submit words
  4. What we will do with your words
  5. How we will judge words submitted
  6. What you can win.

What the Bathetic Word List is

Visit this address to see the list and explanation: http://plainlanguage.com/bathetic.html
These are words that are worn-out from overuse or abuse.

What to submit

Send up to 5 words or phrases not already in the list.
If the words appear on your blog or elsewhere with commentary about what is wrong with them, include the links.

How to submit words

Put the words in an email to this address: email @ cherylstephens.com
Send before midnight December 31, 2010, Pacific Standard Time.

What we will do with your words

We will announce all winners in a press release. We will add your words to our list and, in January, make the list available as a free, printable download at http://PlainLanguageWizardry.com

How we will judge words submitted

We will pick the best submissions (of words not currently on the list) for these qualities:

  1. How tired, trite, misunderstood, or obscure they are, in our opinion;
  2. Whether they are overused (according to search engine results and our opinion).

What you can win

Books will be awarded from our library, in new condition. There will be one book for each winner – up to 6 winners:

  1. The Argument Culture, Deborah Tannen
  2. Information Anxiety, Richard Saul Wurman
  3. History of Reading, Alberto Manguel
  4. Words That Work, Frank Luntz
  5. The Oxford Companion to the English Language, McArthur
  6. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, David Crystal

Contest organized by Plain Language Wizardry at PlainLanguage.com