By way of my friend, Kathy, is a Time Magazine (online) list of banned words and phrases from 2009 that you should consider not using. In literature, we call tired old plots tropes. This list has ten words or phrases that are the conversational tropes of 2009. The Times list comes from Lake Superior State University's list, where trope-masters give more background on the selections.

In the list, of course, is the use of Obama as a prefix, such as in obamanomics. My favorite (meaning, I desperately hope it goes away soon), is the use of friend as a verb. That's just wrong. Sad to say, it won't go away until Facebook goes away.

The most obnoxious one that I've never heard in my deep forest cabin is chillaxin', a combination of chillin' and relaxin'. I hope that goes away before I hear it in the wild.