Seeing the world in the 'words of the year'

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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The recently announced "words of the year" say a lot about 2022 — and of an era.

The three that received the most attention attest to a turbulent, at times untrustworthy world that seems to provoke more anxiety than hope.

For instance, Merriam Webster's word of the year, "Gaslighting," seems to be the rage (and often triggers rage, too). Originally derived from the 1938 play and later movie "Gaslight," it's been broadened to mean "the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, especially for a personal advantage."

Unlike "lying," Merriam Webster stated, "which tends to be between individuals, and 'fraud,' which tends to involve organizations, 'gaslighting' applies in both personal and political contexts." And amid today's tension, in which the political is too often personal, many feel they're being gaslighted, whether it be by former President Donald Trump's electoral "big lie" or the perceived prevarication of President Joe Biden.

The resulting roiling of our politics — and yes, too often our personal relations — can lead to a siege mentality in which every issue is heightened to the level of real crises like global warming, wars in Ukraine and elsewhere, and an everywhere migration emergency that's resulting in populism popping up across continents. It's enough to suggest "an extended period of insecurity and instability" — or "permacrisis," the word of the year according to Collins Dictionary.

Defined as "a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations," goblin mode made its mark as a post-COVID ethos and beat out at least one other word that seems to suggest a rejection of regular life: "metaverse," most often associated with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's push for a virtual world.

The choice of these words — and the fraught times they reflect — results in some searching for a counternarrative or another set of words.

Perhaps including the word "word" itself.

On its surface, "word" is simple. Yet reflecting the extraordinary complexity and richness of the English language, there are many different definitions of "word," as evidenced by a printed version of the Oxford English Dictionary that was first published in 1933. Five 9-by-12-inch pages of "word" definitions, to be precise, with several interpretations offering more enlightened possibilities than the darker designations chosen to capture 2022's zeitgeist.

Among them are "report, tidings, news, information," all of which can't be taken for granted amid disinformation (including, yes, gaslighting) that threatens a standard set of objective facts about the challenges (or, perhaps, permacrisis) facing the world.

Or, perhaps most profoundly amid this week's holy observances of Hanukkah and Christmas, word as "Word" — almost always capitalized, defining "a divine communication, command, or proclamation, as one made to or through a prophet or inspired person" — the "Word of God, of the Father," Oxford uses as examples.

Heeding the Word has endured as a response to the permacrisis depicted from biblical times to today, steeling believers against devil-may-care goblin modes that can include every era's version of gaslighting.

Of course, it's not just sacred but secular sectors of society seeking a better world, particularly amid a season that, despite its darkness, inspires that most optimistic of emotions: hope.