The official word of the year perfectly sums up our collective existential fatigue

After mass consultation with the public, Oxford Dictionaries have unveiled their “word of the year”, which is intended to encapsulate the “ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the past twelve months.” Let’s say the answer is the perfect fit for those of who wish we could just bury ourselves under a blanket, lock the door, and ignore the increasingly hellish nightmare world outside.

Yup, it’s time to go “goblin mode”.

The phrase, first made popular on Twitter, was selected as the ‘word of the year’ after a poll of more than 340,000 people, 93% of whom decided nothing better sums up 2022.

Oxford Dictionaries now defines it as “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.”

So, if you’ve ever found yourself dressed in sweatpants and a bathrobe with Cheeto dust all over you and a grimy PlayStation controller in hand, now you know that you’re not simply being a bum, you’re going goblin mode.

Oxford Languages President Casper Grathwohl explained that:

“Given the year we’ve just experienced, ‘goblin mode’ resonates with all of us who are feeling a little overwhelmed at this point.” 

So, with environmental meltdown insistently knocking on the front door, the world economy pinballing between different flavors of financial meltdown, the continued destruction of the human brain by social media, and Kanye West coming out as a Hitler fan, what better time is there to embrace your inner goblin than now?

Let’s hope 2023 is a tiny bit less stressful, as if we’re pushed just a little bit further, we suspect many people are going to tip over into full-on orc mode.