'Green' Tops 2008's Most Annoying Terms

Harvard, Princeton top universities list

(NEWSER) - US News and World Report has released its latest college rankings, and it’s full of the usual suspects, with Harvard, Princeton, and Yale topping the list; not much has changed since last year . Among liberal arts colleges , Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore lead the pack. The magazine also presents its best universities in the world : The UK is on top, with Cambridge at No. 1, followed by Harvard and Yale (don’t ask us why Yale beats Princeton worldwide but not nationally). More»

From Brown to Bob Jones, 'what kind of douche do you want to be'?

(NEWSER) - In college, acting insufferable is pretty much a given. “The question for America's youth is: What kind of douche bag do you aspire to be?” asks GQ. The mag helpfully offers the top options.

1. Brown University: Peace Sign on My Mom's 7 Series Douches are limo liberals too good for grades.
2. Duke University: Original Douches. “Probably number one. But we'd rather not rank Duke number one at anything.”
3. Princeton University: Eating-Club Douches “invented affectations.”
4. Harvard University: Harvard Douches—need we say more?
5. Deep Springs College: Only Six People Know About It Douches inhabit a ranch near Death Valley.

Schott compiles list of 2008's most memorable neologisms

(NEWSER) - 2008 will be remembered not only for a historic election and financial gyrations, but for the words and phrases that came into use this year. Ben Schott, author of Schott's Almanac, lists some of 2008's most interesting neologisms in the London Times.

• Terrorist fist jab: A blunt Fox News-ism to describe Barack and Michelle Obama's famous fist bump.
• Plain vanilla: Banker-speak for the simplest forms of financial investment.

Alaska governor went zooming up search charts in '08

(NEWSER) - Every year, Google releases its analysis of the global zeitgeist based on billions of searches around the world. Newsweek reports the highlights:

• Sarah Palin: "Obama" was the most searched for term overall, but the Alaska governor grabbed the top spot on the fastest-rising list.
• Beijing 2008: The world was understandably electrified by the spectacle of the Olympics in China.

'Surge,' 'random,' 'under the bus' top list of cringe-worthy neologisms

(NEWSER) - Do you roll your eyes every time a newscaster calls a coincidence a "perfect storm"? Cringe the thousandth time a teenager invokes "random"? The faculty at Lake Superior State University shares your vexation. Here are some selections from the school's list of words and phrases to be "banished" for "Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness" in 2007:

• "Perfect Storm"
• "Webinar" (web seminar)
• "Waterboarding"
• "Organic"
• "Wordsmith"/"Wordsmithing"