Oxford English Dictionary has unveiled 2022’s word of the year 

For a few years in a row, Oxford English Dictionary has been revealing their ‘word of the year.’ Last year, it was ‘vax’ which is short for vaccine and referred to global Covid-19 vaccination drive.  

Now that we are nearing this year’s end, Oxford English Dictionary has come up with the word of the year 2022. Guess what it is? Goblin mode! Wait, what’s that supposed to mean? Well, it is a slang that is used to describe a kind of behaviour which is “unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.” Simply put, it means, do what you want without caring what the world thinks! Sounds cool, isn’t it? 

However, what’s interesting here is that, this word of the year has been chosen by the public after a round of vote, something that has happened for the first time in history. In fact, ‘goblin mode’ won by a whooping 93 per cent vote with more than 340,000 people choosing it over the runner-up term ‘Metaverse’ that ended up receiving only 4 percent of the vote.  

Oxford Languages unveiled its annual word of the year listing to the vote by common masses, after a team of its seasoned lexicographers shortlisted a final choice of three words: Metaverse, Hashtag I Stand With, and goblin mode. Sources cite that ‘goblin mode’ was a clear winner considering the term spiked through the early half of the year. The public election was conducted online over the last two weeks with more than 300,000 English speakers casting their valuable votes.  

Experts believe that the term ‘goblin mode’ resonated with people because it’s a brand-new word, and it caught on as it successfully filled a gap as well as captured the imagination of the public having the capacity to fulfil what they needed to express. With ‘goblin mode’, it’s as if people are finally accepting that the worst is gone, the pandemic is over, yet its consequences will live on. In fact, we may never ever go back to the pre-pandemic world.  

While Oxford English Dictionary made some noise with ‘goblin mode’, its close competitor and rival Merriam-Webster, the American Dictionary wasn’t far behind. They chose ‘gaslighting’ as the word of the year 2022. It means, “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, the uncertainty of one's emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.”