Oxford Dictionaries has unveiled “goblin mode” as its word of the year, and we can’t resist pointing out that that’s actually two words.
The Oxford University Press defined the term as “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.”
In a news release, Oxford University Press said the word first appeared on Twitter in 2009 but went viral this past February and then gained popularity as COVID lockdowns eased.
“People are embracing their inner goblin, and voters choosing ‘goblin mode’ as the Word of the Year tells us the concept is likely here to stay,” said Oxford Languages President Casper Grathwohl.
Last month, the publishing company asked for the public’s help for the first time by voting on the word of the year. According to the company, more than 300,000 people cast their vote in the last two weeks.
Goblin mode beat out metaverse and the hashtag IStandWith by garnering 93% of the votes, the Associated Press reported. Last year’s Oxford word of the year was “vax.”
The Merriam Webster Dictionaries, on the other hand, chose “gaslighting” as their word for 2022.
In this age of misinformation—of “fake news,” conspiracy theories, Twitter trolls, and deep fakes—gaslighting has emerged as a word that defines our time.
Gaslighting is “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage.” 2022 saw a 1740% increase in lookups for gaslighting, with high interest throughout the year.
Its origins are colorful: the term comes from the title of a 1938 play and the movie based on that play, the plot of which involves a man attempting to make his wife believe that she is going insane. His mysterious activities in the attic cause the house’s gas lights to dim, but he insists to his wife that the lights are not dimming and that she can’t trust her own perceptions.
When gaslighting was first used in the mid-20th century it referred to a kind of deception like that in the movie. We define this use as:
“psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.”
But in recent years, we have seen the meaning of gaslighting refer also to something simpler and broader: “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, especially for a personal advantage.” In this use, the word is at home with other terms relating to modern forms of deception and manipulation, such as fake news, deepfake, and artificial intelligence. In this era of fake news and conspiracies, the word resonates with millions of people.
