Some annoying words

Here are some words that got overused in 2009:

Meme -- Ask five people what this word means, and you'll get five answers, not to mention pronunciations. A good friend, a man of letters, in fact, told me with a straight face it's meh-me (rhymes with hemi). Of course, meme is pronounced with a long "e" and rhymes with steam. According to Merriam-Webster, a meme is "an idea, behavior, style or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture." Meme may make you look smart for five seconds, but the word has definitely lost its way. It needs about a century in rehab.

Narrative -- As in, "The pro-Obama narrative featured an almost mystically talented young idealist . . ." The word is not bad in itself, especially as an adjective, as in narrative poetry. But why use it when a much simpler word will do? Like story. Doesn't story do the job as well, without the pretense? Apparently not. Especially when talking about President Obama. "Obama narrative" shows up more than 33,000 times on the Internet.

Trending -- If you don't tweet, you're probably clueless here. Last week, for example, I learned that the word "BlackBerry" had been trending in Twitter for 15 hours. I figured out its meaning from context, but made the mistake of asking for confirmation. My bad. I had exposed myself as a fusty old newsosaur. No amount of tech- and Twitter-speak could redeem me. If a word or topic is trending, BTW, it means it's currently in the top-10 most searched items in Twitter. A person could just say it that way. But that's so last year.

Whatever -- This dismissive answer/statement isn't new or even new-ish, but does continue to be an equal-opportunity irritant. It topped the list of most annoying words of 2009 in an October poll.

(Thanks, Lainey)