“COVID-19” and “social distancing” are thrown in with “we’re all in this together," “in an abundance of caution” and “in these uncertain times” on the school’s light-hearted list of banned words and phrases for 2021. “To be sure, COVID-19 is unprecedented in wreaking havoc and destroying lives,” Banished Words List committee members said Thursday in a release. “But so is the overreliance on ‘unprecedented’ to frame things, so it has to go, too.”The school in Sault Ste. But basketball players pivot; let’s keep it that way.”— Unprecedented. “In a small way, maybe this list will help ‘flatten the curve,’ which also was under consideration for banishment.