As we enter the last month of 2022, the word of the year has been the subject of various researches. Last year’s word was vaccine. Indeed, what marked the past year was the vaccine, which helped mitigate the impact of the pandemic. According to a new report from the BBC, Merriam-Webster, America’s oldest dictionary publisher, chose the word of the year for 2022.
THAT’S THE WORD OF 2022: GASLIGHTING
Merriam-Webster chose “gaslighting” as word of the year. According to the company, searches for the word ‘gaslighting’ on the dictionary’s website increased by 1740 percent in 2022, and the word has garnered a lot of attention. “In this age of misinformation (‘fake news’, conspiracy theories, Twitter trolls and deep fakes), gaslighting has emerged as a buzzword for our time,” the company said in a statement.
WHAT IS GASLIGHTING?
Gaslighting means manipulating, lying and psychological manipulation. It is possible to come across examples in relationships, romantic intimacy and friendships. The term comes from the name of a 1938 play and the movie based on that play; The plot involves a man trying to make his wife believe he’s crazy.
The term gaslighting comes from the name of a 1938 game and the movie based on that game. The plot involves a man trying to convince his wife that he’s crazy, who says the oil lamp in their house is dimmed. When gaslighting was first used in the mid-20th century, it referred to a kind of deception similar to the one in the movie.
In recent years, however, gaslighting has seen a simpler and broader meaning. (The act of manipulating someone on a large scale, especially for personal advantage.) In this usage, the word has also become synonymous with other terms related to modern forms of deception and manipulation, such as fake news, deep fakes, and artificial intelligence.
Other words for 2022 include omicron and oligarch.