It doesn’t take much to put me in the Christmas spirit as we get closer to Dec. 25, but there is one text in particular that always does it regardless of the month: Charles Dickens’ 1843 masterpiece “A Christmas Carol.”
I normally dedicate one column each year to the novella, as friend and News-Banner colleague Chet Baumgartner and I since 2015 have driven to Indianapolis to see the story performed on stage at the beautiful Indiana Repertory Theatre. We have missed only one showing since 2015 — in 2020 when officials canceled the play due to the pandemic.
We’re making that trip on Saturday, and I’m already looking forward to dedicating next week’s column to sharing a takeaway from the show.
Dickens’ novella is on my mind every Christmas season, as his powerful story of a man who loses sight of what is truly important in life but later sees the error of his ways and changes before it is too late.
In fact, Dickens’ story was the first thought that came to mind last week when I learned a new word.
The word just happens to be the word of the year according to Oxford Languages, the creator of the “Oxford English Dictionary.”
When I read a report about the word of the year, however, I was confused, as I had never heard or even seen the word before.
This year’s word of the year: Goblin mode.
If you haven’t heard it before, you’re not alone. Several people I asked this week had never heard the phrase either. In fact, I saw a Tweet from Stephen King saying he had just learned the word as well.
It has nothing to do with Halloween, trick-or-treating, ghosts or even goblins.
Instead, the term is defined as a “type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typical in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.”
Apparently the word has been around since it first appeared on Twitter in 2009. It didn’t go viral, however, until February 2022.
“The term then rose in popularity over the months following as COVID lockdown restrictions eased in many countries and people ventured out of their homes more regularly,” Oxford Languages said in a press release. “Seemingly, it captured the prevailing mood of individuals who rejected the idea of returning to ‘normal life,’ or rebelled against the increasingly unattainable aesthetic standards and unsustainable lifestyles exhibited on social media.”
The public voted on this year’s word of the year, and some 300,000 people — nearly 93 percent — favored goblin mode.
As I read and re-read the definition, however, I couldn’t help but think of Ebenezer Scrooge.
Someone who personifies “goblin mode” has lost sight of what matters in life much like Scrooge got caught up in a life of greed and self-indulgence in which he forgot what was most important: mankind, mercy, forbearance and benevolence — traits that the ghost of Jacob Marley reminds Scrooge of when he visits his former business partner.
Call me crazy, but it’s a word I hope no one ever uses to describe me or associates with me.
In the words of Ebenezer Scrooge, I’ll give this year’s word of the year a big “bah humbug.”
jdpeeper2@hotmail.com
