Oxford has spoken and the word of the year has been named. Overtaking both ‘Metaverse’ and ‘#IStandWith’ in third and second ranks, ‘goblin mode’ has been dubbed the Word of the Year for 2022, by Oxford University Press.
The point of the ‘word of the year’ is to reflect the general ‘vibe’ of the twelve months past. In 2021, ‘VAX’ was aptly dubbed word of the year after COVID-19 had taken its toll on the world.
Now, in 2022, for the first time in history, the English speaking public have been allowed to vote towards word of the year, with over 300 000 people making their pick.
Beforehand, lexicographers chose a list of 2022’s most relevant words’ including ‘Metaverse’ and ‘#IStandWith,’ but ‘goblin mode’ took the cake, reeling in 318, 956 votes, which made up about 93% of overall ‘word of the year’ votes…but what does it mean?
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According to Oxford University Press, ‘goblin mode’ is defined as:
“A slang term, often used in the expressions ‘in goblin mode’ or ‘to go goblin mode’ – is ‘a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.”
The term, ‘goblin mode’ was first traced back to a tweet in 2009 but picked up viral fame earlier this year, in a celebrity news headline about Kanye West breaking up with Julia Fox after she had gone ‘goblin mode.’
How many of us went goblin mode this year? I’ve caught myself gearing into it a couple of times. Since life has ‘returned back to normal’ after COVID-19, it has proved difficult to ditch some of the more comfortable habits that 2021 saw us adopt.
It’s not all on us, though. the evolution of the working model has allowed for us to slip into goblin mode without even realising. With hybrid working, employees get to spend at least 2/5 of their working days in bed in their pyjamas…if we choose to. Zoom meeting? Fine, we’ll throw on a good top and put the bedhead up in a bun. Voila, WFH-chic.
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And that’s exactly the crux of it. We’ve gotten a little more comfortable after going through a tumultuous time that took so much away from the world in 2021.
In a press release announcing the news of goblin mode, the president of Oxford Languages himself, Casper Grathwohl, says:
“It’s a relief to acknowledge that we’re not always the idealised, curated selves that we’re encouraged to present on our Instagram and TikTok feeds. This has been demonstrated by the dramatic rise of platforms like BeReal where users share images of their unedited selves, often capturing self-indulgent moments in goblin mode.”
So what if we’re still indulging a little more, or doing a little less? Of course, the cyclical nature of life demands that at some point, things will change and shift again. Perhaps we’ve always tapping into the goblin, though.
For now, the world has cast their votes into The Goblet of Fire, and goblin mode has been dubbed main character.
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The TikTok round up for 2022 – local nominees and how to vote for them
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