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Last year, the Oxford English Dictionaries’ word of the year was “vax” and Merriam-Webster’s was “vaccine”.

But this year, Oxford’s word couldn’t be any further from Merriam-Webster’s.

Merriam-Webster announced that its word of the year is “gaslighting”, a very serious psychological manipulation tactic intent on making someone feel crazy and question the validity of their own thoughts.

Oxford’s word is slightly more humorous and meme-y.

Oxford Languages, the creator of the Oxford Dictionary, has revealed “goblin mode” to be its word for 2022 as it best reflected the ethos and mood of the past 12 months.

I’ll point out now that ‘goblin mode’ is two words and then we never speak of it again.

The public was able to choose the phrase through an online vote, and this slang word made the cut as people are still identifying with their pandemic selves:

Image: Oxford English Dictionary

NPR elaborates on what that might look like:

It’s mindlessly binge-watching television without worrying about the time. It’s eating snacks in bed without a care about leftover crumbs. And it’s wearing the same pair of pajamas all week while working from home. Welcome to “goblin mode.”

The word made its first appearance on Twitter in 2009 but didn’t go viral until 2022:

“It captured the prevailing mood of individuals who rejected the idea of returning to ‘normal life’, or rebelled against the increasingly unattainable aesthetic standards and unsustainable lifestyles exhibited on social media,” the group wrote in a press release.

‘Goblin mode’ encourages people to lean into their uncurated, self-indulgent, and sometimes mischievous ways as a way to cope with the disillusionment of the third year of the pandemic and the ongoing political upheavals around the world.

As Casper Grathwohl, the president of Oxford Languages said, “people are embracing their inner goblin” in response to being utterly fed-up and overwhelmed.

Per ABC News, voters could choose between the top three expressions of the year: “goblin mode”, “metaverse” (you know, Zuckerberg’s thing), and “#IStandWith” (“a way for people to communicate their opinions and align their stances on specific events”).

The overwhelming majority opted for ‘goblin mode’ – more than 340 000 people, or 93% to be exact.

Since we’re here… Goblin mode: activated.

[sources:abcnews&npr]