"we're going to have to agree."

With censorship? Wow. I guess it turns out that everything they say about authoritarian socialist environmentalists is true.

I don't agree with banning the word. But it probably is healthy to remind ourselves what the word is originally supposed to mean... animal or plant matter comprised of carbon compounds. A cousin of mine actually used the word properly over the holiday and I was so used to it in the context of "pesticide free" that I didn't understand what she said at first.

Maybe it's time for a new term for "organic" food?

I don't think censoring a word is going to bring anything positive into the situation.

What are the repercussions for saying a banned word? Because last I heard, Organic is a legit phrase that describes the process of how certain foods are cared for. Obviously, certain companies would like to take advantage of that with 'Organic Pancake Batter in a Can' but banning it because you're annoyed with how certain people are using it is not productive either...

Everyone chill. They're just saying that it's overused.

The other day I bought some "organic" face wash and toner. - only to find out that it was "organic" in name rather than ingredients. It didn't have any organic certifications and the only reference to organic was in the company name. Even the woman who sold it to me thought the ingredients were organic.

I doubt that anyone who's actually experienced waterboarding would say that it's an over used word.

If anything, the media and general public hasn't talked about it enough.

This list is ridiculous.

K, Karen, and OrganicHealth are taking this a lil bit too seriously. I seriously doubt you get punished for using the word organic there.

From their own release:

http://www.lssu.edu/banished/

"Over the years, some copycat lists have made an appearance, but LSSU's list was first."

Does this make their list better or any more relevant than any others? My goodness.

As for the "Queen's English" - I think Queen Liz would tch tch some of the Americanisms on their related pages :).

http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php

Anyhoo (yes, I know), aside from being a PR exercise that obviously has worked, it is good that they are raising awareness that the "organic" term is used rather loosely.

"What are the repercussions for saying a banned word?"
It shows everyone your level of intelligence.

May I suggest that the three of you resolve to get a sense of humor this year.

"May I suggest that the three of you resolve to get a sense of humor this year"

This now qualifies as "an intelligent and civil comment"?

Sure the term is everywhere, but at least our society is slowly moving in the right direction.

I'd rather see the term Organic used than Genetically Modified or Made in China.

Could be worse. Organic could just be another word that no one cared about and that industries did not try to get in on the action.

Isn't "sustainable" banned as well.. Not by LSSU, but wasn't there a post on here about that word being overused.. I think "Green" is over used as well,

There should be punishments in place if you say something is green, sustainable or organic and it really isn't.

Responding to some of the previous posts: Tell me if I have this wrong, but in the U.S. aren't certified organic products all stamped with the circular USDA symbol? If something's got the word "organic" on it, but no symbol I usually assume it's bogus marketing.

Too many companies are just trying to get cheap "health" points off of everything that they sell so they slap "Organic" "Fresh" "Natural" on things they sell and think it makes it healthy? I once saw (kid you not) a bottle of juice that said in HUGE letters "100% juice" then when you go up to the bottle in much smaller letters "from concentrate" then in the almost illegibly small uber microscopic fine print under that "with added ingredients" Ok, so my question is what happened to the 100% juice if it's from concentrate with added ingredients?

Abuse of "Organic" is matched by abuse of "Natural" especially in the Health & nutrition fields. It's often implied that both terms equate with "good for you".

I agree with S on this one - it's either stamped organic/fair trade or it's bogus.

And "Green" is so vague to begin with...

I think my creative writing teacher put it best when he said

"Don't tell me, *show* me"

I like that this little list is getting publicity -- perhaps people will rethink their branding and/or practices....

I agree whole-heartedly. My favorite example for the pathetic use of "Organic" is the marketing suggestion that eating something not grown "Organically" makes it "in-organic".

It was and always will be a marketing ploy for lazy and ignorant consumers who'd rather not have to learn how to eat healthfully on their own, and tend to trust marketing labels to tell them what to eat. WholeFoods would not exist today if it were not for that marketing ploy, which is a little shameful in my opinion....

Sweet! This is good news. Back in the day, the green lexicon was jargon, now it is mainstream. Of course it will be mis-used for profit and status, what isn't? This shows "organic" is recognized as a desirable trait, and we want that. Now we need "certified" to join the surge before some random wordsmith at LSSU throws it under the bus.

Isn't juice from concentrate still juice?

I totally agree that "organic" is totally misunderstood and misused. If people would really understand what organic means they'd realize that coal, raw sewage, gasoline, pond scum and any other carbon based compounds are all organic in the true sense of the word.

It's a word that has been totally abused by advertisers who didn't pay attention in high school chemistry class.

...and don't even get me started on the misuse of "sustainability".

It's not about censorship - it's about acknowledging that the word has lost all potential meaning and is now completely useless. You can thank your marketing department for that.

eric y and jay whitlow just wish the word really could be banned! in the mean time the only thing we trust in is buying straight from the farm! "organic" or not.
eric y and jay whitlow

why is "random" on that list?

im german and first i was confused about the meaning of "organic", because the german eqivalent "organisch" referrs to all things made out of carbohydrates, including as delicious stuff, as plastic.
But here it is the same all the food and the medicine and the cars, ..., everything has become "bio" (biologisch = organic)
that word is definitly beeing overused

It's been a while since I've heard the word 'organic'. It makes sense to ban it since it was being overused.

That's B.S.

The english language isn't set in stone, it changes with the times. If too many people are using the word "organic" incorrectly, then you change the meaning of the word so it is used correctly.

How about, if too many people start using the word incorrectly, we change the definition of people to not include those people.

To Anon, technically juice from concentrate IS still juice, as concentrate just means they take 80% or so of the water out. To get that juice back, you put in the water you lost, and so it's still juice. But the 'other ingredients' makes it -not- 100% juice. :D

organic is a lie when its advertising spam .
organic gardeners have no fertilizers and no bug spray chemicals in the soil or in use. the soil is tested and the food grown organically is healthier even though it looks low quality. it even tastes weak and is half as good as a toxic equivalent sometimes and costs twice the price. the reason is that toxic agricultural chemicals collect in mammals, accumulate and cause cancer later or birth defects.
fish accumulate mercury from eating shrimps that eat the bacteria which contain the mercury. fish have a lot of mercury in polluted water, like three million times the concentration of mercury in the actual water they swim in. so mammals like us will have the bug-spray in us if we eat a lot of plants or eat animals that eat the plants, meat and fish have accumulated toxicity. Organic meat is grown on unfertilized pasture so it has no toxic build-up presumably although cows eat dirtt at times. cadmium is in dirt quite often its a toxic metal. metals are toxic because they accumulate.