2022 was the year of “goblin mode.” In 2022, the guardrails came off. People went raw,unfiltered and real, ditching highly curated aesthetics like “cottage-core” for something more messyand primal. The slang term describes “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent,lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations,” according toOxford Languages. Linguist Ben Zimmer said, “It may seem a bit frivolous, but I really think ‘goblinmode’ speaks to the times and the zeitgeist — and it’s certainly a 2022 expression.”
       The word of the year is drawn from data analysis of Oxford’s vast language corpus — largebodies of tagged, electronic text — that are regularly updated with new English words drawn fromall around the world. Oxford’s lexicologists study the compilation to analyze trends and pull a list ofdata-driven candidates for the word.
       This year, “goblin mode” was up against two other words with heavy associations with onlinelife, runners-up “metaverse” and the hashtag “#IStandWith.” In the end, “goblin mode” ran away with 93 percent of the more than 340,000 votes. It proved unstoppable after receiving a helpful nudge fromvarious online communities； PC Gamer even implored readers to “put aside our petty differences andvote for ‘goblin mode’ over ‘metaverse’ as the Oxford Word of the Year.”
       “Goblin mode” resonated with those feeling “a little overwhelmed at this point,” OxfordLanguages president Casper Grathwohl said in a statement announcing the word of the year. “Peopleare embracing their inner goblin, and voters choosing ‘goblin mode’ as the Word of the Year tells usthe concept is likely here to stay,” Grathwohl said.
       The inclusion of a word that captures the trend of rejecting norms and performative style wasespecially pertinent in a year that had no shortage of change when it came to the global climate,international politics or bodily rights, Oxford’s experts said. The whole point of the word of the year,they said, is to reflect “the ethos, mood, or preoccupations” of the past 12 months.
       Other changes emerged in the way many people resumed pre-pandemic routines — such asreturning to the office — but not in quite the same way as they had before. Katherine Martin, productdirector at Oxford Languages who works on the New Words team, said during last month’s launchthat Oxford’s team was inspired to rethink its word of the year selection and put it up to a public votefor the first time. “After a year like this, with so much change, it felt wrong to keep the same oldapproach to our word of the year,” Martin said.
       “Goblin mode,” meanwhile, didn’t come out of nowhere； it appeared on Twitter at least as earlyas 2009, according to Zimmer. “Goblin mode” has a precursor in “beast mode,” a reference tothe ’90s-era “Beast Wars: Transformers” cartoon where the robots could shift into “beast mode.”
       Interest in “goblin mode” spiked in February when a viral tweet featured the word in a fakeheadline (purportedly written to show how easy it is to spread fake news online) about the short-livedromance between actor Julia Fox and the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. “Julia Foxopened up about her ‘difficult’ relationship with Kanye West ‘He didn’t like when I went goblinmode,’” the doctored headline read. (Fox clarified on her Instagram at the time, “Just for the record.I have never used the term ‘goblin mode.’”) Zimmer said after the viral tweet, people, at least onsocial media, latched onto the word. “Of course that is not always a reflection of the way that languageis used elsewhere, but these days it’s often a very good barometer,” he said.
       Words of the year selected by other dictionaries showed what else people were searching forwhen not in goblin mode. Merriam-Webster crowned “gaslighting”— “The act or practice of grosslymisleading someone especially for one’s own advantage” — as its word of the year, while CollinsDictionary chose “permacrisis,” defined as “an extended period of instability and insecurity,” a wordthat “sums up quite succinctly just how truly awful 2022 has been for so many people.”
【題組】41. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “zeitgeist” in the first paragraph?
(A) premise
(B) temperance
(C) sequel
(D) spirit