If you want to guess the Word of the Year before reading this post, the image above might be a good clue. The editors of the Merriam-Webster dictionary have selected their Word of the Year for 2022, and it's "gaslighting."
The use of the word has become ubiquitous in the past couple of years, although at the same time, the meaning has become more broad. The original definition is the act of getting you to doubt your own judgement or sanity in order to manipulate you. It is a reference to the 1944 film Gaslight, in which musician Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer) manipulates his new wife Paula (Ingrid Bergman) into questioning her own sanity when she finds evidence of a crime. One of the symptoms of her assumed mental illness was the dimming of the gas-powered household lights.
In 2022, gaslighting is often meant as “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, especially for a personal advantage.” Unlike previous words of the year, the meteoric rise of the term is not tied to a specific event, but has gained everyday usage in the wake of political division and charges of bias in the news media. I love how Wikipedia warns us not to confuse "gaslighting" with "fart lighting."
Merriam-Webster also lists eight other terms that have become notable in 2002, from "queen consort" to "oligarch." -via Fark
Comments (1)
That said, mashing words together is part of almost every language in the world, and many Germanic languages are pretty much built on the concept. Romance languages like Spanish, when spoken in real life, also have tons of dropped syllables and are darn near unintelligible to listen to if all you know is what you learned in a high school text book.
That is how all languages evolve over time. The dictionary is supposed to change. However, lolspeak and lazy sms methods don't belong. :P
However, bad grammar is bad grammar and should be exterminated.
- My mom or my dad does the dishes.
- My sister or my parents do the dishes.
I should really be grading my students' grammar hw instead of doing this.
Oh wow, I just realized it was a pun and I've been coming here for years!
But I'm sure that's part of the joke.
When you are lost, you orient yourself. That way you become oriented. Yes, you can go through orientation, but afterward you are not "orientated". (shakes head in disgust)
Funny that no one ever corrects "sad," "angry," "ecstatic," etc.
ps, hopefully it goes without saying that i don't care to have my grammar errors scrutinized, analyzed and publicized. thank you.
If we're so darned civilized and special, can't we at least take the time out for a complete sentence and proper spelling? Since I've begun losing my hearing I've gotten even less patient with the spoken language.
At least any mistakes I make are legitimate errors and not willful ignorance and laziness.