America’s oldest dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster, has declared ‘gaslighting’ as the word of the year for 2022. According to Merriam-Webster, searches on its website for this word spiked by 1,740 per cent in 2022, with high interest throughout the year.
Meaning of the Word
As per Merriam-Webster dictionary, gaslighting is “psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.” According to ‘Psychology Today’, gaslighting is a form of manipulation where targets are urged to doubt their memories, beliefs, feelings, or sanity.
Gaslighting vs Lying
In other words, when someone gaslights a person, he or she continues to throw falsehoods at the victim to manipulate the victim to the point where the victim may even question their own judgment, reality, and sanity. Although gaslighting does involve lying, the two are not necessarily the same. Lying is when one deliberately makes untrue statements or creates misleading impressions. Gaslighting could be a one-time and isolated thing, while lying may not always be harmful. Lying becomes gaslighting when it is part of a larger, longer-term plan, with the goal of grossly misleading someone, as opposed to appropriately misleading someone. People could use gaslighting either to maintain power over others or wrest power from them. For example, a doctor convincing a patient that he or she does or does not have a particular ailment when the opposite is true. Gaslighting occurs in personal relationships too, when, for example, one person endeavours to keep the other disoriented and, in turn, under control.
Gaslighting could happen between romantic partners, within a broader family unit and among friends. It could be a corporate tactic or a way to mislead the public. It could also happen between family and colleagues in a situation where one’s opinion is completely dismissed and invalidated.
Origin of ‘Gaslighting’
The word gaslighting first appeared in the 1938 play ‘Gas Light’ by British playwright, Patrick Hamilton. The play told the story of a husband, whose mysterious activities in the attic led to the house’s gaslights dimming. However, he would convince his wife that the lights are absolutely fine and she could not trust her own perceptions.
Later on, the term ‘gaslighting’ was used by mental health practitioners to clinically describe a form of prolonged coercive control in abusive relationships. Presently, gaslighting also refers to the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, especially for personal advantage.
Significance of ‘Gaslighting’ in 2022
According to Merriam-Webster, the word ‘gaslighting’ has more relevance now than before. In this age of misinformation—of fake news, conspiracy theories, deepfakes, etc., gaslighting has emerged as a word for our time.
Choosing the Word of the Year
Merriam-Webster has approximately a 100 million pageviews a month on its site. It chooses its word of the year based solely on data. Evergreen or most commonly words are looked up to gauge which word received a significant bump over the previous year. ‘Gaslighting’, beat out around 50 other worthy contenders to win the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year status. Some other words are—‘Oligarch’ (with reference to Russian invasion of Ukraine), ‘Omicron’ (most widespread variant of COVID-19), ‘Codify’ (not to be confused with coding; it refers to a process by which congress can make laws), ‘LGBTQIA’ (the acronym adds some more letter to the LGBTQ) ‘Sentient’ (artificial intelligence), ‘Loamy’(a soil consisting a mixture of sand, clay and silt), ‘Raid’ (with reference to FBI raids for documents Trump had allegedly taken from the white House), etc.
Webster’s last year’s pick was ‘vaccine’. Similarly, ‘Goblin mode’ is Oxford’s word of the year 2022, which means ‘a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.” The word first appeared on Twitter in 2009.
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