The Word I’d Ban (For Now)

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If you could permanently ban a word from general usage,
which one would it be? Why?

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It’s just a word, right?

A throwaway word.
A quick word.
A word people use all the time and think nothing of.

So why get worked up about one word?

Because words are not nothing.

Because words shape what we see.
Because words train us in how to think.
Because words can help us tell the truth—or help us avoid it.

And “fake” has become one of those words.

Once upon a time, it meant something. To call something fake required discernment. It required knowledge, expertise, careful examination. You had to look closely. You had to test what was in front of you. You had to make a case.

It was not a reflex. It was a conclusion.

Now? It is often a reaction masquerading as insight.

It gets tossed out to dismiss what is inconvenient.
It gets used to wave away what is uncomfortable.
It gets deployed not to clarify, but to shut things down.

Not discernment, but dismissal.
Not examination, but reaction.
Not truth-seeking, but tribal shorthand.

That is the real problem.

We have taken a word that once pointed toward reality and turned it into a weapon against reality. We use it to label before we investigate, to sneer before we think, to signal allegiance before we ask what is actually true.

It sounds like certainty.
It often functions like a smokescreen.

And that matters, because when language becomes a weapon, truth is usually the first casualty. We stop naming what is going on. We stop examining claims on their merits. We stop doing the hard work of discernment. We just reach for the right word, say it with confidence, and move on.

“Fake.”

Case closed.
No evidence required.
No humility required.
No honesty required.

So yes, I’d ban it. Not forever. Just long enough for us to remember what it is for.

Bring it back when we are willing to use it carefully.
Bring it back when we are willing to examine before we react.
Bring it back when we want truth more than tribal applause.
Bring it back when our language is trying to name reality, not bludgeon it.

Until then, we could do without it.