Mark Juddery: The 11 Most Overrated Things about 2011

Having listed the most overrated things about 2010 and the entire previous decade, it's now time to look back on the vintage year of 2011 - a year when "hype" was a way of life (just like every other year, come to think of it).

Feel free to comment. In fact, feel free to tweet me (@markjuddery) or to come up with your own ideas on the Overrated blog. Any angry protests (from Tea Party members, 2012 believers and Rebecca Black fans) graciously received...

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According to Republicans like Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (pictured), raising the debt ceiling would be “Armageddon”. President Obama, however, said that Republican plans to avoid this would result in economic “Armageddon”. Who was correct? Well, considering that Merriam-Webster's definition of Armageddon is “The site or time of a final and conclusive battle between the forces of good and evil”, both sides of politics might have been getting a little too excited. No surprise there. Words and phrases have been cheapened by politicians for years, but this year was especially dumb.

It’s not an exclusively American trend, of course. In Australia, the buzzword is “assassination” – as in, the “assassination” of former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. The opposition party has been using the word regularly. Rudd was deposed as PM by his own party, but is very much alive, now working as foreign minister. As well as demeaning the tragedies of real assassination victims, the word loses its power with such misuse. But that’s politics… (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)