Goblin Mode (Oxford WOTY 2022)

2022

Date: December 2022 (Oxford selection) · Place: Twitter, then Oxford Languages · Figures: Oxford Languages · Public vote (340,000 ballots) · A fake Julia Fox headline from 2022 · Tags: OxfordWOTY, PostPandemic, Aesthetic 01. Defining the Slob Oxford Languages, for the first time, opens its Word of the Year vote to the public in December 2022. 'Goblin mode,' defined as 'a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations,' wins with 318,956 of 340,000 votes. The term gains traction after a fabricated Julia Fox quote about Kanye West circulates on Twitter in February 2022. The phrase had already been used on Reddit since 2009. Its 2022 ascent is post-pandemic post-cottagecore reaction formation. 02. Reaction Aesthetic Goblin Mode is named the same year as Tomato Girl Summer, Hot Girl Walk, and Cottagecore's tail. Its win signals the audience's exhaustion with aspirational TikTok aesthetics and embrace of their opposite. The term will be displaced within 12 months by Rizz, then Brain Rot. Oxford is now choosing meme words annually. "The state of being unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy." — Oxford Languages, Word of the Year announcement, 5 December 2022 Sources • Oxford Languages, 'Word of the Year 2022: Goblin Mode' (5 December 2022) • The Guardian, 'Goblin Mode Beats Out Metaverse for Word of the Year' (5 December 2022) • BBC News, 'Goblin Mode Voted Oxford Word of the Year' (5 December 2022)