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Gaslighting’ is Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2022
KQED ^ | 11/29 | Leanne Italie

Posted on 11/28/2022 2:45:34 PM PST by nickcarraway

“Gaslighting” — behavior that’s mind manipulating, grossly misleading, downright deceitful — is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year.

Lookups for the word on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740% in 2022 over the year before. But something else happened. There wasn’t a single event that drove significant spikes in curiosity, as it usually goes with the chosen word of the year.

The gaslighting was pervasive.

“It’s a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday’s unveiling.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 0chat; anthonyfauci; chat; covidstooges; creepstate; deepstate; doj; ecoterrorism; ecoterrorists; emglishlanguage; english; fbi; fib; gaslighting; genderdysphoria; globalwarminghoax; greennewdeal; homosexualagenda; lexicography; merriamwebster; merrickgarland; newsforumabuse; obamacare; policestate; singlepartystate; trends; trump; vaccinemandates; wordoftheyear; words

1 posted on 11/28/2022 2:45:34 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

What preceded it? Head gaming?


2 posted on 11/28/2022 2:50:41 PM PST by Buttons12 ( )
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To: nickcarraway

I had never heard of this term until two years ago and now I see it everywhere in media every day.


3 posted on 11/28/2022 2:52:19 PM PST by MachIV
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To: nickcarraway

So a lie isn’t a lie, it’s been painted pretty and called gaslighting?


4 posted on 11/28/2022 2:53:18 PM PST by grame (May you know more of the love of God Almighty this day!)
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To: nickcarraway

The word is an assault on plain English — it has too many meanings to be precise and useful.


5 posted on 11/28/2022 2:54:03 PM PST by Socon-Econ (adi)
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To: nickcarraway

The gaslit, sick of the abuse, finally rose up...!

________

Bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream
Yeah, ha-ha-ha

Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream

Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead
You better stay home and do as you’re told
Get out of the road if you wanna grow old


6 posted on 11/28/2022 2:56:00 PM PST by one guy in new jersey
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To: All

I wonder if more people have watched the movie now because of the term being spammed constantly all over the place.


7 posted on 11/28/2022 2:56:29 PM PST by escapefromboston (Free Chauvin)
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To: Socon-Econ

Ever been gaslit by someone close to you?


8 posted on 11/28/2022 2:56:37 PM PST by one guy in new jersey
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To: nickcarraway

I choose “dumbassery”.


9 posted on 11/28/2022 3:05:50 PM PST by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this? 😕)
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To: nickcarraway

We did that back in HS.


10 posted on 11/28/2022 3:13:07 PM PST by Scrambler Bob (My /s is more true than your /science (or you might mean /seance))
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To: nickcarraway

In Australia, the ‘word of the year’ is ‘Teal’.

Referring to so-called ‘conservative environmentalists’ - in Australia, blue is the conservative colour, and if you mix blue and green you get ‘teals’.

A bunch of ‘Teal Independents’ ran in our last federal election and managed to pull enough votes away from nominally conservative candidates to make a real difference, and helped ensure a socialist victory - basically the teals *are* socialists, they just manage to look a little less obvious about it.


11 posted on 11/28/2022 3:43:40 PM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: nickcarraway

It was mostly searched by liberals who for a split second realized the word was describing their tactics and then quickly twisted it to point the blame at conservatives... which they also claim isn’t gaslighting.


12 posted on 11/28/2022 3:45:24 PM PST by Marko413
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To: nickcarraway

For our 16th wedding anniversary, I looked for a nice movie to watch with my wife while the kids watched ET upstairs.

I saw, “Gaslight”, 4 stars, Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. I figured it was a romance of some sort and borrowed it. My wife let me know it was a poor choice for a wedding anniversary movie. I rather liked it.


13 posted on 11/28/2022 4:44:14 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (What was 35% of the Rep. Party is now 85%. And it’s too late to turn back—Mac Stipanovich )
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To: Dr. Sivana

Did you see the original version, or just the remake?


14 posted on 11/28/2022 4:54:20 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway
Did you see the original version, or just the remake?

Just the 1944 American remake. Is the British one better?
15 posted on 11/28/2022 5:34:10 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (What was 35% of the Rep. Party is now 85%. And it’s too late to turn back—Mac Stipanovich )
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To: nickcarraway

Gaslighting at 6:00 and 11:00 select a channel.


16 posted on 11/29/2022 9:00:09 AM PST by Vaduz (LAWYERS )
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To: nickcarraway

Despite what you read on this thread, the word ‘gaslighting’ has NOT been chosen “word of the year.” ; )


17 posted on 11/30/2022 9:16:44 AM PST by GSWarrior
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