Lake Superior State University is a small state school located in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, my wife’s hometown.

It has nice criminal justice and nursing programs, and the Lakers won two national NCAA hockey championships during the early 1990s.

However, what LSSU is really known for is a quirky list it releases each new year.

Lake State’s annual “Banished Words” list is a tongue-in-cheek poke at popular culture. According to the school’s website, it began at a New Year’s Eve party in 1975 as professors discussed their “pet peeves about language” and turned into an annual list.

This year’s list featured such buzz words and phrases as “influencer,” “vibe,” “those darn Millennials” and “OK Boomer.” Nominations are taken throughout the year, and they come from all over the world.

Not to hijack this fine university, but I’d submit that I could already write a very accurate list for 2021 I am sure all of us could agree on.

∫ “The new normal”: I sure miss the old normal. Hopefully the new normal means kicking 2020 to the curb.

∫ “We’re all in this together”: Yes, it is nice, a bit homespun, and, at its core, is true. Why do I feel, though, that our nation has never been further apart? I’d also like to see its clever cousin, “alone together,” also retired.

∫ “Quarantine”: Before, this was a word from a bygone era, or perhaps from some sort of movie. The town I used to live in had an old tuberculosis hospital and that word was used reporting historical stories on it. But the fact it has been resurrected with such vigor this year is downright troubling. I hope we can “quarantine” the word quarantine in 2020.

∫ “Social distance”: Is it just me, or do you also feel a little bit animalistic when you are out in public? My eyes are always scanning, looking for the perfect way to avoid oncoming humans, darting to the left or right. It all feels so dystopian. I hate the fact I can’t shake hands. Social distancing stinks.

∫ “Masks”: While the personalization of masks is cool, it kills me this has now become as essential part of our wardrobe as socks. I’d prefer to save masks for one day a year — Halloween.

∫ “6-foot”: Like 40 or 7 in the Bible, this has become a number of great importance. It has always accurately described my height in a nice, tidy number, but I’ve marked out 6 feet with my tape measure in my office enough times to realize that I wish I was, like, 6-foot-1 or 5-foot-11. Therefore, at some point, I won’t have to hear the words “6 foot.” I guess there’s always hope to shrinking with age.

∫ “The ‘rona”: It has sounded silly from the start when people have casually used this term to describe COVID-19, or coronavirus (wow, I sound like I’m getting old). Casual language is part of our culture, but there simply isn’t anything casual about this one. I hope this one hits the trash along with the virus itself.

∫ “Contact tracing”: Another term I’d have no idea what it meant just a short six months ago (or was it six years ago? Feels that way, doesn’t it?) I hope this one ultimately vanishes, without a trace.

∫ “COVID-19”: Self-explanatory. This one needs to be retired to the history books. In all seriousness, I pray every day that this nightmare is over as fast as possible. Please do whatever you can to both get this over quickly, while continuing to support local business.

Here’s to hoping my 2021 list of banned words isn’t as focused on one subject as this frustrating list is.

Jeremy Speer is an Alpena native the publisher of The Courier in Findlay, Ohio, The Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin, Ohio, and the Review Times in Fostoria, Ohio. He can be reached at jeremyspeer@thecourier.com or jspeer@advertiser-tribune.com.