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Mihar Dias (C) Copyright December 2022
Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year for 2022 chosen by the public is Goblin Mode.
Goblin mode means being “unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations”.
For a long time I have been searching for a phrase that describes the way we behaved in our family during the lock down. This is so apt.
"As you read this, look around. Are you still in bed? Are there piles of clothes and takeout food boxes strewn across the floor? Do you have chip crumbs on your sheets? Have you broken your self-care routine more times than you can count? Do you not even care? If so, you might already be in goblin mode.”
This slang term appropriately describes a type of behavior among most teenagers and young adults living alone and many of us who went through the recent lockdown. During that period of mindless behaviour we were always unapologetic about the way we behaved.
We were self-indulgent. We were lazy, slovenly even typically greedy, in a way that rejects social norms, mores or expectations.
Think back to those lock down days and you'll recognise the above traits that may have become familiar to so many us.
But now that it's over we told our son he ought to change his ways and get off the goblin mode and be back to normal again.
But his reply is "Mum and dad I am sorry I am not in a goblin mode I am the goblin itself."
That's how goblins behave all over the world. "Once a goblin always a goblin".
Forget about the "idealized versions of self-improvement, from waking at 5 a.m. and drinking a green smoothie, to keeping a journal, exercising and planning your weekly meal prep".
CNN concludes that "that era may be on the way out. In its place is goblin mode – the opposite of trying to better yourself."
It's just a new form of being possessed. Welcome to a goblin posseseed era!
So, be kind to yourself and your children if you guys happened to slip back into goblin mode any day from now on.
It's just an old habit. Or shall I say hobbit?
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