MONTPELIER – The Vermont legislature has been advised to avoid certain words while drafting policies and legislation. This order, which came directly from the governor’s office, is intended to continue indefinitely with the purpose of streamlining the state’s laws.

The seven words that are prohibited in all future official Vermont state business are:

Artisanal

Creemee

Massachusetts

The

Upta

Wicked

Yup

Some of the words, such as “creemee” and “artisanal” were thought to be previously added frequently in an attempt to be more “Vermonty” and were banned for that reason.

Words like “upta,” “wicked,” and “yup” were deemed too informal, and there is some impetus to go back and amend previous laws containing these words. This will likely be a multi-year undertaking, as almost every item worked on by the legislature contains at least one of these three words.

“The” was banned after a study was done on overused words in Vermont legislation. “The” was the most used word for 23 years running, and is now prohibited for the sake of variety.

There has been no official cause given for the removal of “Massachusetts.”