7 Hipster Terms that Should Be Banished From Your VocabularyThese words and terms have surpassed their shelf life. They are not catchy, certainly not original, and you won’t be doing yourself any favors by using them in your marketing materials or personal branding.

  1. Awesomesauce
    This is a term that is gaining traction recently, and it just needs to stop. If you want a better word for ‘awesome’, use thesaurus.com.
    Urban Dictionary Definition for Awesomesauce
  2. Rock star
    I’ll admit, I call myself a wanna-be rock star. BUT, I mean it. I have a electric Fender guitar and I dream of rocking. I do not mean I’m a web design rock star, or a marketing rock star, or whatever kind of rock star applies to your industry/niche.
  3. Maven
    This one is certainly not new… and has just gained in annoyance. I know for most it’s just another way of labeling oneself a “guru”, but it’s not doing you any favors. And… while we’re on the subject…
  4. Guru
    Another oldie, but NOT a goodie. You become a guru automatically when you are a recognized leader in your field — not when you label yourself as such.
  5. Queen
    This one makes me laugh when I see it. From a marketing standpoint, it’s truly horrid. Honestly, it makes me think of “bitch”. And another related term….
  6. Diva
    Another term that, to me, invokes the feeling of high-maintenance and that B word I dropped on #5 (I thought it might be a little too harsh to say it twice). The Urban Dictionary definition confirms my feelings on this one.
  7. Winning
    My mother has this saying… “It was funny the first time, cute the second time, but enough.” That’s how I feel about this. Charlie Sheen made the term “cool” for the typical 15 minutes, but now it’s enough already.
  8. Epic – submitted by @LRStrategies of Legal Resource Strategies.
    I couldn’t agree more with this one – another that has just got to go. Epic is generally reserved for poetry, or things of a great size or extent (see definition for epic here). Your webinar, score on Angry Birds, new iPhone 4G… is NOT epic.

I know I must be missing some good ones — please leave a comment and if your suggestion is one of those that just has to go, I’ll add it to the list and attribute you.