Words that need to go out with 2008

Out with old, in with the new.
Ringing in the New Year is a bit like starting over. The slate may not be completely clean, but it is a good time to steel your resolve and attack anew some things you wanted to square away in 2008 but did not get the opportunity. Hey, we're all there on that one. My list is a mile long.
Along with bidding farewell to 2008, there are a few other things I'd like to kiss goodbye as well: words that I never want to hear used again. Ever.

In no particular order:

• "Bling." Enough, for pete's sake! Especially now, in these lean times.
• "BFF." As in "Best Friend Forever." A throw-back from our texting-happy nation.
• "Bail-out." Over it. Should now and forever only refer to a relative in jail in need of assistance.
• "Hot Spot." I never really figured this one out, anyway.
• "Embedded journalist." They're on assignment, O.K.? Can't we just call it that?
• "Insurgents." Don't get me started.
• "Forecast cone." Weather people could just say they have no idea where the storm's going...
• "Prequel." I want Hollywood to come up with some new ideas.
• "Rehab." Sorry, Dr. Drew. Take it off my T.V.
• "uber" anything. Ultra more than covers it.

And I'd like to add to this list any texting abbreviation that I can't understand. You know the script. All the OMG and such. (My 16-year old stepdaughter speaks in some sort of cryptic texting lingo that is unidentifiable. I wonder sometimes if she isn't working for Central Intelligence. Perhaps I'm just getting old.)

It would be nice to return to proper English again in 2009, whatever that may be. Somewhere between Elizabethan Shakespeare and things that are suitable for public consumption. Slang aficionados may want to hang me, but I still bid farewell to these words and all the images they bring with them. Anyone that uses them gets charged a quarter.

Happy New Year, everyone! May it healthy, safe and prosperous for all.