What is Goblin Mode? 2022 Oxford word of the year leaves netizens in a frenzy

Goblin Mode was declared the Oxford Word of the Year on Monday, December 5, 2022. The phrase is used to describe a person or a certain type of behavior where one’s extremely lazy, messy, unapologetically self-indulgent, and uncaring about social norms or other people’s expectations of them.

An example of this would be someone who hasn't showered in days and prefers to be holed up in their house. It could be someone who lays down on the couch all day long, messily eating junk food while watching television. Basically, it is someone who is completely unbothered by the worldly responsibilities.

The slang phrase had to compete with two other words or phrases that were shortlisted and put to a vote. The words were metaverse and #IStandWith. While the former describes a virtual reality space where users interact with each other in a computer-generated environment, the latter is used to show solidarity with a cause on social media.

With 318,956 votes, or 93% of the total votes, 'goblin mode' won the Oxford Word of the Year title since it best reflected the mood and characteristic spirit of the present year. According to Oxford Languages, the term was first used on Twitter in 2009, but it only went viral in 2022.

In a press release, they wrote that the word captured the mood of the people who "rejected the ideo of returning to 'normal life.'" It also referred to those who:

"rebelled against the increasingly unattainable aesthetic standards and unsustainable lifestyles exhibited on social media."

American language columnist and linguist Ben Zimmer, who was among the panelists to choose the finalists, said that 'Goblin Mode' speaks to the current times. He added that it was definitely a 2022 expression as people are looking at social norms in different ways and this lets people let go of social norms and create or embrace new ones.

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Why do so many people relate to the 'goblin mode'?

People who were disillutioned and disappointed by the third year of the pandemic along with all the ongoing political disorders worldwide could empathize with the phrase the most. The disillusionment brought about by the pandemic and other social issues in its wake has caused people to reject all forms of societal expectations.

Instead, they saw it fit to live by their own rules. This sort of goblin-like behavior would generally be looked at as unaesthetic and disrespectful. However, the trend encourages people to be unapologetic and even mischievous about their self-indulgence.

President of Oxford Languages, Casper Grathwohl, said,

"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.”

In February this year, a fake news headline went viral that claimed that Kanye West and his then partner Julia Fox, the model-actor, broke up. The headline said that Kanye didn’t like when Julia went ‘goblin mode.'

The hashtag #goblinmode is often used on TikTok, in contrast to the idealized manifestation of a person being their best version.

Casper Grathwohl further said in his statement that with the year that everyone has had, 'Goblin mode' resonates with everyone who has been feeling overwhelmed. He says that it is a relief to know that we aren't always the perfect and idealized selves that we are urged to present on social media.

Casper said that the manifestation of this goblin mode has been well-demonstrated by people who share their unedited images on platforms like BeReal. They capture and embrace their self-indulgence in acting like a goblin.

After the world experienced prolonged lockdowns due to the pandemic, goblin mode aptly represented people’s sentiments. The lockdown restrictions forcing everyone to stay at home brought out people’s uncurated, unaesthetic selves and all made them proudly show off their perfect imperfections across social media.

In some cases, some people have become so comfortably used to living like a goblin that they refuse to return to the old ways and socialize.