By Kermit Hobbs

Ah, it’s time for one of my favorite events of the year. Lake Superior State University has released its list of words that recommended for banishment from the English language.

Counting down to this year’s announcement, I noticed that NBC and a number of different colleges and universities were conducting their own polls to see what words people would like to see banned. This took away some of the surprise of LSSU’s official announcement, but it made it fun to be part of the process.

I’ve recently been reading about the history of the English language, and I’ve learned one of the reasons English has become such a dominant language is that it so readily creates new words and, when necessary, absorbs words from other languages. It is dynamic.

This is particularly true of American English, which contrasts to languages such as French, where there is a deliberate resistance to any change that would destroy the purity of that language.

It’s this dynamic nature of English that accounts for so many words we could have done without — or worse, that we run into the ground by overuse.

LSSU’s top three words to ban were “selfie,” “twerk” and “hashtag.”

I really don’t have a problem with “selfie.” It makes sense to me that since cellphones have made it so easy to photograph oneself, and it is so often done, that the process deserves its own word.

I think one concern for many people is that the word emphasizes self, when we should be more aware of others and less upon ourselves. This is a legitimate concern.

I think “selfie” is a fad word that won’t completely go away. Rather, it will eventually fade into its rightful place alongside last year’s “fiscal cliff” and “kick the can down the road.”

“Twerk” is one of those new unneeded words. There are plenty of other disgusting ways to describe Miley Cyrus’s gyrations. The last thing we need to do is to legitimize such behavior by giving them their own title.

Of LSSU’s top three nominations, the one that I find most irritating is “hashtag.” As an engineer, I’ve used the # symbol to mean “pound” or “number” all my adult life. In music, I recognize it as a sharp. I’ve even used the # symbol many times in computer programming, but I’d never heard it called “hashtag” until Twitter was invented.

There are several things I don’t like about this word. First, we don’t need a new name for it. If we did, we could call it by its technical name — octothorpe. (I’m being facetious. I don’t like that word, either.)

I also don’t think we need such a long word to lead off a 140-character Tweet. Just as we are being more careful in conserving our physical environment, it would be good to exercise a little word economy in the world of communication. The word should be shorter.

The main thing I don’t like about “hashtag” is the sound of the word. The short letter “a” followed by a hissing sound in “hash” is anything but poetic. It just suggests a rather unappetizing food.

I propose that we abbreviate the term, “Hashtag…” to simply, “Tag…” For example, #downwithhashtag would be read,”Tag, Down with hashtag”.

This might just catch on. Maybe it will become a fad.

Kermit Hobbs Jr. is an accomplished Suffolk historian and businessman. Email him at khobbs5@aol.com.