A number of years ago, I wrote a Happy Trails about accepting some slang into our daily language. I thought it was a pretty sound argument. Our language is constantly evolving. Words take on different meanings. They become colloquial. And, despite what they teach in school, there are very few rules that govern our printed word. It’s a good thing when new ideas bloom from old ones.
Until it’s not.
A couple weeks ago, I found out that the Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year is ‘Goblin Mode.’
Like the Brad Pitt meme of the same concept, I wanted to throw my phone, except I wasn’t on my phone but my desktop. And don’t think I wasn’t tempted to rip my monitor off my desk and toss it out the window.
Goblin Mode. It sounds like a word (do I even have to mention it’s not A word but MULTIPLE words?) my six-year-old son would have selected as his favorite word of the day.
For those of you who don’t know, I’ll spare you the whole gory definition. It basically means lazy or laziness or being lazy.
Sure, Goblin Mode is fine sometimes. Lounging around, not worrying about your problems, not wanting to get out of bed or off the couch or prepare dinner or go to work. Who doesn’t like those things. It’s called relaxing, a proactive word, something to treat yourself. A decision you make: “I’m going to take the day off and relax.” It’s not, “Oh, I’m in goblin mode today.”
But I guess I’m not being fair or being very accurate because Goblin Mode isn’t really relaxing. It’s not caring. And there’s a big difference between relaxing and not caring.
We live in a time where so much attention is given to laziness (Yes, I’m looking at you ‘influencers’) and just how few f#@ks we have to give. Apparently the Oxford Dictionary doesn’t give much of a f#@k because they’re glorifying a manner of being that’s counterproductive to, well, anything productive. And the worst part is when you let pop culture dictate our language a word turns from a word to an excuse that we’re now supposed to accept as a manner of being. In this case, laziness and tiredness mixed with apathy.
To my kid: “Why didn’t you take in the garbage cans today?”
My kid: “Oh, I’m just in Goblin Mode.”
Do you see my point?
