Lake Superior State University maintains a List of Banished Words that they believe are some combination of overused, annoying, trite, wrongly-used, or otherwise worthy of being expunged from common usage.

I think they’re too hard on some of these words, but for the most part I agree with them. I like the word wordsmith because of its connotations of attention to craft, quality, and artisanship. I agree with them, though, that the way wordsmith is commonly used has sucked much of the positive meaning from it. That may be their point. When people drive good words to turn bad, it’s time to banish them for a while.

Some of these words and phrases are great to use sarcastically in your writing. (”Back in the day, we didn’t even have YouTube!”) If it’s something your character would say, use it!