Goblin mode is the word of the year
December 5, 2022 3:35 AM Subscribe
Goblin mode won the public vote to become Oxford’s Word of the Year 2022. Goblin mode has been floating around online for a long while and came to prominence over 2022. Its recent popular origins are contested, the main contenders being a viral Reddit post and a photoshopped headline about Julia’s Fox’s breakup with Kanye West.
As 2022 progressed a consensus formed around goblin mode meaning slobbing out, being lazy, and indulging hedonistic whims, possibly as a pandemic-informed reaction against a culture of striving or highly-curated domestic self-presentation. Various celebrities and organisations have also been described as being in goblin mode, particularly when veering into malevolent trickster territory.
The idea of goblin mode doesn’t sit right with everyone, and has been criticised by disabled people and folklorists alike. Over the course of the year it has also drifted away from its darkly comic internet-nonsense roots, as exemplified in this bizarre series of Reddit posts.
Looking forward, arguments have been made for a new conceptualisation of virtue degeneracy and even an ascension in the higher form of gnome mode (aka getting gnomepilled).
As 2022 progressed a consensus formed around goblin mode meaning slobbing out, being lazy, and indulging hedonistic whims, possibly as a pandemic-informed reaction against a culture of striving or highly-curated domestic self-presentation. Various celebrities and organisations have also been described as being in goblin mode, particularly when veering into malevolent trickster territory.
The idea of goblin mode doesn’t sit right with everyone, and has been criticised by disabled people and folklorists alike. Over the course of the year it has also drifted away from its darkly comic internet-nonsense roots, as exemplified in this bizarre series of Reddit posts.
Looking forward, arguments have been made for a new conceptualisation of virtue degeneracy and even an ascension in the higher form of gnome mode (aka getting gnomepilled).
Goddamnit I was about to post this! That's what happens when you enter #goblin mode and don't open your laptop in favour of eating potatoes in bed.
I waver between goblin mode and hobbit mode depending on how much energy I have, and honestly, goblins? Wonderful little tricky curious creatures with plenty to recommend for themselves. And they also like baked potatoes.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 4:09 AM on December 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
I waver between goblin mode and hobbit mode depending on how much energy I have, and honestly, goblins? Wonderful little tricky curious creatures with plenty to recommend for themselves. And they also like baked potatoes.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 4:09 AM on December 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
Absolutely delighted to see this beating 'metaverse', a concept I wish the media would stop giving so much free publicity.
posted by terretu at 4:11 AM on December 5, 2022 [30 favorites]
posted by terretu at 4:11 AM on December 5, 2022 [30 favorites]
I have never heard the term goblin mode. I get it—it's cute—but I've never heard it.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:20 AM on December 5, 2022 [30 favorites]
posted by SoberHighland at 4:20 AM on December 5, 2022 [30 favorites]
Yeah I have never heard it either. Splintered subcultures are something else.
posted by caviar2d2 at 4:44 AM on December 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by caviar2d2 at 4:44 AM on December 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
Bachelor’s Handbag
Okay, I burst out laughing when I clicked this. Well done, language!
posted by mittens at 4:57 AM on December 5, 2022 [18 favorites]
Okay, I burst out laughing when I clicked this. Well done, language!
posted by mittens at 4:57 AM on December 5, 2022 [18 favorites]
Twitter thread from the originator of the term (the person who made the fake Julia Fox headline)
posted by windbox at 5:03 AM on December 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by windbox at 5:03 AM on December 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
Please enjoy the animals going goblin mode Twitter account
posted by the primroses were over at 5:11 AM on December 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by the primroses were over at 5:11 AM on December 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
Very interesting. Second place metaverse. Third place #IStandWith. I would love to assign a writing assignment to seniors asking them what is in their opinion happening sociologically such that all three of these fit together. (I just am so bad at writing prompts I don’t know how to exactly express it. But there’s some common thread here I think maybe abt personal and collective identities in flux?)
posted by scunning at 5:24 AM on December 5, 2022
posted by scunning at 5:24 AM on December 5, 2022
I'm not sure the usage/meaning of goblin mode is particularly well settled which kind of makes electing it the word of the year questionable.
However, even if no one agrees on what it means, it's still a better choice than [ disgusted noise ] metaverse.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:26 AM on December 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
However, even if no one agrees on what it means, it's still a better choice than [ disgusted noise ] metaverse.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:26 AM on December 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
I vote for Hedgehog Cyberverse.
posted by sammyo at 6:28 AM on December 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by sammyo at 6:28 AM on December 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
It's weird when the word of the year is a phrase?
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:00 AM on December 5, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:00 AM on December 5, 2022 [8 favorites]
And when I've never heard one person use it once, ever, until right now?
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:00 AM on December 5, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:00 AM on December 5, 2022 [8 favorites]
I have never heard it but resolve to use it daily.
posted by scunning at 7:12 AM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by scunning at 7:12 AM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
A goblin historian weighs in: "What things mean is decided by the people who actually use them. Since there isn't a canonical goblin—and we can't run out to the zoo and measure this use of goblin against the goblin that they've got in a cage—what a goblin is is a moving target. At the moment, for some people, enough of them that it's become what the kids call 'a thing,' enough people are thinking that goblinness is being unshaven in your apartment and it sounds like cave-dwelling."
How did Tolkien change the trajectory of the goblin?posted by kliuless at 7:23 AM on December 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
This is a much more involved story, but he takes all of the stuff that is kind of impressive and human but slightly better and he sticks it on elves. And he takes all the stuff that is less attractive, less refined, things about being subterranean, things about being not quite physically human because of having claws, and he sticks those on goblins, which he calls goblins in The Hobbit and then he calls orcs in the later books. This is where we get goblins are the bad guys, elves are the good guys. It’s all Tolkien. And then everything that is downstream of Tolkien has kept that.
Are these the same people who picked "Youthquake" a few years back?
I doubt I ever have or ever will hear anyone use either that or "Goblin mode" in a normal conversation.
Perhaps Oxford should refer to words selecting by online voting as "Online Word of the Year, as Selected by People Who Even Bother with Online Voting Stuff"
I'd be skeptical of word usage by op-ed writers who are likely seeking to appear "cool" and "with it" by using niche phrases.
Anyway, I guess I can file this away with the equally dubious (but for different reasons) Pantone "Color of the Year".
(Also, yeah, "metaverse" was a loser once it got co-opted by Facebook and bandied about in an effort to pretend it was a thing people cared about.)
posted by Ayn Marx at 7:25 AM on December 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
I doubt I ever have or ever will hear anyone use either that or "Goblin mode" in a normal conversation.
Perhaps Oxford should refer to words selecting by online voting as "Online Word of the Year, as Selected by People Who Even Bother with Online Voting Stuff"
I'd be skeptical of word usage by op-ed writers who are likely seeking to appear "cool" and "with it" by using niche phrases.
Anyway, I guess I can file this away with the equally dubious (but for different reasons) Pantone "Color of the Year".
(Also, yeah, "metaverse" was a loser once it got co-opted by Facebook and bandied about in an effort to pretend it was a thing people cared about.)
posted by Ayn Marx at 7:25 AM on December 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
I use goblin mode all the time. The point of word of the year is to demonstrate the expansion and metastasizing nature of language. Unlike feral, which I also use to self describe behavior, goblin mode is a choice, a temporary condition or reaction.
posted by zenon at 7:38 AM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by zenon at 7:38 AM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
My favorite story about goblins has an excellent foreword about why Goblin Mode:
"It's very different from the lazy-minded stories that call some characters good and others bad although they all behave exactly the same way; the Goods win the battles and the Bads lose, besides being ugly. MacDonald's goblins are ugly only because they behave badly. Treated unjustly, instead of standing up for their rights they went underground to sulk vengefully down in the dark, and so they got all twisted, with weird feet and no toes... This is a great story, and I love it all, but I love the goblins best."
- Ursula Le Guin
Goblin Mode could be a type of communal trauma response. It being a thing right now makes a lot of sense to me.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 7:47 AM on December 5, 2022 [18 favorites]
"It's very different from the lazy-minded stories that call some characters good and others bad although they all behave exactly the same way; the Goods win the battles and the Bads lose, besides being ugly. MacDonald's goblins are ugly only because they behave badly. Treated unjustly, instead of standing up for their rights they went underground to sulk vengefully down in the dark, and so they got all twisted, with weird feet and no toes... This is a great story, and I love it all, but I love the goblins best."
- Ursula Le Guin
Goblin Mode could be a type of communal trauma response. It being a thing right now makes a lot of sense to me.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 7:47 AM on December 5, 2022 [18 favorites]
My Facebook feed is chockablock full of 30-somethings talking about goblin mode.
posted by joannemerriam at 7:50 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by joannemerriam at 7:50 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
I've never heard of this term, but one Chinese translation for this term is '摆烂' -- 'show the rot' -- itself a popular neologism to describe giving up the pretense of striving and/or keeping on the straight and narrow path. A similar term is '躺平 lying flat'.
posted by of strange foe at 7:58 AM on December 5, 2022 [20 favorites]
posted by of strange foe at 7:58 AM on December 5, 2022 [20 favorites]
Yikes, another side of aging. In years past I'd eye roll at how such an over-used term got voted into the lexicon by the out of touch. Now I've never heard the phrase.
Seems Metafilter might be aging with me. Have you seen my slippers, dear?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:38 AM on December 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
Seems Metafilter might be aging with me. Have you seen my slippers, dear?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:38 AM on December 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
I am here for neologisms. To borrow from the free thread: PAIN BRO
posted by zenon at 8:40 AM on December 5, 2022
posted by zenon at 8:40 AM on December 5, 2022
goblin mode is a “deez nuts” joke at exactly the wrong time
goblin mode is taking on the mantle of “the middle child” with a sneering exuberance
goblin mode is cooking a bag of “microwaveable pork rinds” in the communal break room, knowing (and reveling in the fact) that the smell will completely overwhelm the entire office the rest of the afternoon
goblin mode is vibe subversion
posted by Doleful Creature at 8:42 AM on December 5, 2022 [13 favorites]
goblin mode is taking on the mantle of “the middle child” with a sneering exuberance
goblin mode is cooking a bag of “microwaveable pork rinds” in the communal break room, knowing (and reveling in the fact) that the smell will completely overwhelm the entire office the rest of the afternoon
goblin mode is vibe subversion
posted by Doleful Creature at 8:42 AM on December 5, 2022 [13 favorites]
I'm a mid-40s Brit and definitely familiar with the phrase from being an Internet Person, but never heard it used IRL, despite interacting with a good range of age-groups in my small shop retail job in a studenty area. I do like the concept though, give yourself permission to let go
Guarantee that I've mentioned it before but in my family we had/have the similar-ish idea of having a "Dirty [Dayname]" which is essentially slobbing-out for a day as self-care (obviously this can become less of an option as an adult with adult/family/relationship responsibilites). Might have your morning shower mid-afternoon before going round the cornershop for treatments i.e. treats, meaning snackfood, then getting under a blanket on the settee to binge-watch, binge-game or binge-read. Bonus points for occasionally singing "Dirty Monday to me!" to the tune of Happy Birthday, copyright issues notwithstanding
Why yes, I have gone Full Goblin Mode/Dirty Monday today, how did you guess? (I did wear my nice rainbow scarf though)
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 8:51 AM on December 5, 2022 [12 favorites]
Guarantee that I've mentioned it before but in my family we had/have the similar-ish idea of having a "Dirty [Dayname]" which is essentially slobbing-out for a day as self-care (obviously this can become less of an option as an adult with adult/family/relationship responsibilites). Might have your morning shower mid-afternoon before going round the cornershop for treatments i.e. treats, meaning snackfood, then getting under a blanket on the settee to binge-watch, binge-game or binge-read. Bonus points for occasionally singing "Dirty Monday to me!" to the tune of Happy Birthday, copyright issues notwithstanding
Why yes, I have gone Full Goblin Mode/Dirty Monday today, how did you guess? (I did wear my nice rainbow scarf though)
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 8:51 AM on December 5, 2022 [12 favorites]
I didn't know goblin mode. But I already use trash goblin. So I guess it just depends where you hang out online.
posted by blueberry monster at 8:52 AM on December 5, 2022
posted by blueberry monster at 8:52 AM on December 5, 2022
When I hear "goblin mode" I always think of Pratchett's goblins, not Tolkien's orcs. They are small and gross and meek and kind of pathetic, but they're perfectly happy down in their holes making vases out of their own snot to keep their toenails in.
posted by Horkus at 8:52 AM on December 5, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by Horkus at 8:52 AM on December 5, 2022 [13 favorites]
what a goblin is is a moving target.
Poor goblins.
(We call the type of slobbing out the phrase refers to "[being] a gremlin human" in my household)
posted by Dysk at 9:04 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Poor goblins.
(We call the type of slobbing out the phrase refers to "[being] a gremlin human" in my household)
posted by Dysk at 9:04 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's weird when the word of the year is a phrase?
Word of the year went goblin mode.
(There's actually a world of either interesting or dull, depending on your inclinations, territory to explore about the concept of wordness vs. phraseness and how much it's informed by the morphology and syntax of one's native language and by the way that words/phrases age over time; "a string of letters uninterrupted by white space" as a definition of "word" is really insufficient, even though it's also to native speakers of English and many other languages a simple and useful first comprehension.)
posted by cortex at 9:24 AM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
Word of the year went goblin mode.
(There's actually a world of either interesting or dull, depending on your inclinations, territory to explore about the concept of wordness vs. phraseness and how much it's informed by the morphology and syntax of one's native language and by the way that words/phrases age over time; "a string of letters uninterrupted by white space" as a definition of "word" is really insufficient, even though it's also to native speakers of English and many other languages a simple and useful first comprehension.)
posted by cortex at 9:24 AM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
I resent the essentializing aspects of this phrase masquerading as a word.
posted by house-goblin at 9:32 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by house-goblin at 9:32 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
The only proper mode is beast mode.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:35 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 9:35 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
"word" of the year...hmmm.
well I just got to inform the spouse that he has been living the "word" of the year for a while now, unbeknownst...
posted by supermedusa at 10:02 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
well I just got to inform the spouse that he has been living the "word" of the year for a while now, unbeknownst...
posted by supermedusa at 10:02 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
I thought goblin mode was when you get exiled from Zajë Zaculo for conspiring against King Gaslark, end up in Witchland as advisor to Gorice XII, devise the spell that kidnaps Goldry Bluszco of Demonland, betray your new master out of love for Lady Mevrian, and die in battle before the gates of Carcë, reviled by all as a traitor.
posted by Gerald Bostock at 10:26 AM on December 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Gerald Bostock at 10:26 AM on December 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
Dammit, my ancient paperbacks of the ER Edison novels must be in the boxes lost to mold. Can’t bring them back in: my goblin options are restricted by allergies.
I see "goblin mode" regularly with pictures of opossums.
posted by clew at 10:34 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
I see "goblin mode" regularly with pictures of opossums.
posted by clew at 10:34 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
animals going goblin mode is delightful. here is a very determined looking bat eating a banana.
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:03 PM on December 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:03 PM on December 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
Gobblin mode surely?
posted by Wood at 12:30 PM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Wood at 12:30 PM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
(Trying to come with with a way to use ‘low key’ to describe how I feel about selecting goblin mode but I am failing miserably. Which probably says more about ‘low key’ than goblin mode itself.)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 12:47 PM on December 5, 2022
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 12:47 PM on December 5, 2022
Does that make Amazon the Goblin Market?
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:03 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:03 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
if you do it while feeling paranoid and vulnerable it is kobold mode
do that but with a lute and it is called doing a Deekin
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 2:49 PM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
do that but with a lute and it is called doing a Deekin
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 2:49 PM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
the bachelor's handbag, is simply a supermarket takeaway chicken, named for the fact it requires no preparation before eating and often comes in a small plastic bag with a handle
Huh. I never bought a supermarket takeaway chicken before having kids, when they suddenly became the only way to cope with days where grocery shopping was going to have to happen just ahead of dinner. I would've gone with "exhausted parent handbag".
posted by nubs at 2:52 PM on December 5, 2022 [9 favorites]
Huh. I never bought a supermarket takeaway chicken before having kids, when they suddenly became the only way to cope with days where grocery shopping was going to have to happen just ahead of dinner. I would've gone with "exhausted parent handbag".
posted by nubs at 2:52 PM on December 5, 2022 [9 favorites]
Re: the reddit link, the user's post history is essentially nothing but posts about goblin sex: https://www.reddit.com/user/ConfusedGoblinParent/
posted by thoughtful_jester at 3:08 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by thoughtful_jester at 3:08 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
ChatGPT has other ideas:
Goblin mode is a term that is often used in the context of video games or fantasy literature. It is typically used to refer to a type of gameplay or character mode in which the player or protagonist takes on the characteristics of a goblin
posted by sammyo at 6:38 PM on December 5, 2022
Goblin mode is a term that is often used in the context of video games or fantasy literature. It is typically used to refer to a type of gameplay or character mode in which the player or protagonist takes on the characteristics of a goblin
posted by sammyo at 6:38 PM on December 5, 2022
MonkeyToes: Does that make Amazon the Goblin Market?
I went completely goblin mode flagging this as fantastic.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:22 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
I went completely goblin mode flagging this as fantastic.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:22 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
Goblin Mode, animated?
When I text you 'hehe', it's not 'hee-hee!'
posted by bartleby at 2:59 AM on December 6, 2022
When I text you 'hehe', it's not 'hee-hee!'
posted by bartleby at 2:59 AM on December 6, 2022
re: Tolkien comparisons, before goblin mode, we might have said someone had 'gone full Gollum'.
That stage where isolation and self-indulgence has led you to sleeping all day and playing videogames all night, creeping around the house under a blanket, living on a diet of snack foods.
"I lost my job and had a breakup and then there was lockdown. I have to admit, I kinda went Full Gollum there for a little bit."
Is that Goblin Mode?
posted by bartleby at 3:00 AM on December 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
That stage where isolation and self-indulgence has led you to sleeping all day and playing videogames all night, creeping around the house under a blanket, living on a diet of snack foods.
"I lost my job and had a breakup and then there was lockdown. I have to admit, I kinda went Full Gollum there for a little bit."
Is that Goblin Mode?
posted by bartleby at 3:00 AM on December 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
animals going goblin mode (nitter)
posted by jeffburdges at 12:34 PM on December 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by jeffburdges at 12:34 PM on December 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
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