Banished Words in 2024

The time has come once again where we collectively decide the banished words for the new year!

Since 1976 Lake Superior State University, located in the beautiful winter wonderland that is Sault Ste. Marie, MI has released a list of banished words for the new year. This isn't a list curated by a bunch of bored, pretentious college kids trapped in the snowy Soo Locks. The banished words list is comprised from nominations the university receives from all over the world. In fact, this year they received over 2000 nominations.

According to a press release, "this tradition highlights certain words that are often misused, overused, or have lost their meaning over the past year. It encourages us to laugh at ourselves as we reconsider and reflect on the importance of our vocabulary." For this particular disc jockey, it's one of my favorite lists to check out each year.

There's no set number of words that get banished each year. Back in the 80's and 90's we were banishing words and phrases left and right. In 2024 however, there are only 10 words and phrases on the banished words list. Here they are:

I'm good with leaving all 10 of these in the past. Let's move on and burn out some new words and phrases in 2024.

If you already need a break from 2024, you might want to do a little time traveling. You can go back through the last few decades and see what the banished words were dating back to 1976. This was well before my time, but I'm very interested to know what was happening in 1976 that caused a collective banning of the word "macho."

Lake Superior State University might be in the Great White North, but they definitely seem to have a lot of fun. Upon researching the banished words for 2024, I discovered some of their other traditions. One being "The Department of Natural Unicorns of the Unicorn Hunters" where you can get a license to go on a unicorn quest. They also celebrate the start of spring (which is a very short season in the U.P.) with the annual burning of snowmen.

I don't know about you, but I am very interested to see what frat parties are like at LSSU!

Streaming giant Netflix has a lot of highly-anticipated movies to offer their subscribers. From comedies to grisly dramas, the streamer's January releases feature some of our favorite actors and producers. With the writers and actors strikes over, streamers and production companies are releasing projects that have been held off due to production being shut down in the latter half of 2023.

For Netflix, one of the streamer’s highest-profile new series, 3 Body Problem, was bumped out of 2023 and into 2024. This is the first post-Game of Thrones show from creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss, arriving in the Spring. The sci-fi drama has been in the works since 2020, starring Eiza González, Benedict Wong, and Game of Thrones alums John Bradley, Liam Cunningham, and Jonathan Pryce. Additionally, the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series is just as highly anticipated for fans of the beloved original Nickelodeon animated series. It will be coming to the streamer in late February.

Sofia Vergara stars as real-life Colombian cartel boss Griselda Blanco in a miniseries, looking completely unrecognizable. In it, she creates one of the most profitable cartels in history. With six episodes that are each an hour long, Griselda creator Eric Newman said Vergara was perfect for the role "not only because she, like Griselda, is a single mother who came to America from Colombia with nothing and built an empire, but because it was unexpected of her to do. Sofia has been thought of one way, a beautiful and brilliant comedic actress, and she is so much more than that."

For the movie fanatics, Netflix has a few standout films kicking off January alone. Another standout project is Society of the Snow, the harrowing story of the Uruguayan rugby team that crash-landed in the Andes mountains in 1972. Kevin Hart offers a new comedy in a heist film, and Dan Levy directs and stars in a dramedy titled Good Grief. Coming in March, Millie Bobby Brown stars in a fantasy action movie called Damsel. Later in the month, Lindsay Lohan stars in her second rom-com, Irish Wish. April brings Zack Snyder's sequel, Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver.

Take a look below at the new additions that will be released in January 2024 on Netflix:

Spanish director J.A. Bayona’s thriller Society of the Snow debuts on Thursday, January 4. The film is the latest cinematic retelling of the miraculous story of the Uruguayan rugby team that crash-landed on a glacier in the heart of the Andes in 1972. The survivors join forces and become each other's best hope as they navigate their way back home, resorting to extreme measures to stay alive.

The following day on Friday, January 5, Netflix debuts dramedy Good Grief, written, directed, and starring Schitt's Creek's Dan Levy. In it, he plays a London-based artist who spends a year mourning his husband before making a startling discovery about their relationship on a trip to Paris with his best friends.

One week later on Friday, January, Kevin Hart stars in a plane heist comedy film called Lift. The story centers on Cyrus Whitaker (Hart), the leader of an international heist team who gets enlisted to steal $500 millions worth of gold from a mid-air passenger plane before the fortune ends up in the wrong hands. The ensemble cast includes Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Vincent D’Onofrio, Úrsula Corberó, Billy Magnussen, Jacob Batalon, Jean Reno and Sam Worthington.

Sofia Vergara will shock all her Modern Family fans as she dramatically shifts away from comedy with this miniseries. Debuting on the streamer on January 25, Vergara plays the ruthless Colombian “Godmother,” Griselda Blanco, who created one of the most profitable cartels in history. The six one-hour episodes come from the creators and executive producers of Narcos and has been described as a “cousin” to those two shows.

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