Deadline for Engraved Bricks to be placed at Metropolis Superman Statue is December 14

What headline? ‘Gaslighting’ Merriam-Webster’s word of 2022

NEW YORK (AP) — “Gaslighting” — 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 the 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.

“It was a word looked up frequently every single day of the year,” he said.

There were deepfakes and the dark web. There were deep states and fake news. And there was a whole lot of trolling.

Merriam-Webster’s top definition for gaslighting is the psychological manipulation of a person, usually over an extended period of time, that “causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.”

Gaslighting is a heinous tool frequently used by abusers in relationships — and by politicians and other newsmakers. It can happen between romantic partners, within a broader family unit and among friends. It can be a corporate tactic, or a way to mislead the public. There’s also “medical gaslighting,” when a health care professional dismisses a patient’s symptoms or illness as “all in your head.”

Despite its relatively recent prominence — including “Gaslighter,” The Chicks’ 2020 album featuring the rousingly angry titular single — the word was brought to life more than 80 years ago with “Gas Light,” a 1938 play by Patrick Hamilton.

It birthed two film adaptations in the 1940s. One, George Cukor’s “Gaslight” in 1944, starred Ingrid Bergman as Paula Alquist and Charles Boyer as Gregory Anton. The two marry after a whirlwind romance and Gregory turns out to be a champion gaslighter. Among other instances, he insists her complains over the constant dimming of their London townhouse’s gaslights is a figment of her troubled mind. It wasn’t.

The death of Angela Lansbury in October drove some interest in lookups of the word, Sokolowski said. She played Nancy Oliver, a young maid hired by Gregory and told not to bother his “high-strung” wife.

The term gaslighting was later used by mental health practitioners to clinically describe a form of prolonged coercive control in abusive relationships.

“There is this implication of an intentional deception,” Sokolowski said. “And once one is aware of that deception, it’s not just a straightforward lie, as in, you know, I didn’t eat the cookies in the cookie jar. It’s something that has a little bit more devious quality to it. It has possibly an idea of strategy or a long-term plan.”

Merriam-Webster, which logs 100 million pageviews a month on its site, chooses its word of the year based solely on data. Sokolowski and his team weed out evergreen words most commonly looked up to gauge which word received a significant bump over the year before.

They don’t slice and dice why people look up words, which can be anything from quick spelling and definition checks to some sort of attempt at inspiration or motivation. Some of the droves who looked up “gaslighting” this year might have wanted to know, simply, if it’s one or two words, or whether it’s hyphenated.

“Gaslighting,” Sokolowski said, spent all of 2022 in the top 50 words looked up on merriam-webster.com to earn top dog word of the year status. Last year’s pick was “vaccine.” Rounding out this year’s Top 10 are:

— “Oligarch,” driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

— “Omicron,” the persistent COVID-19 variant and the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet.

— “Codify,” as in turning abortion rights into federal law.

— “Queen consort,” what King Charles’ wife, Camilla is newly known as.

— “Raid,” as in the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

— “Sentient,” with lookups brought on by Google canning the engineer who claimed an unreleased AI system had become sentient.

— “Cancel culture,” enough said.

— “LGBTQIA,” for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual, aromantic or agender.

— “Loamy,” which many Wordle users tried back in August, though the right word that day was “clown.”

Read more –

Gaslighting: How to Recognize it and What to Say When it Happens

Why Is Everyone Talking About ‘Gaslighting’? Here’s What It Means and How to Spot It 

2022 Massac County Holiday Toy and Food Drives:

If you are aware of a Food or Toy Drive taking place that is not included in our listing – please email the pertinent information and any associated graphics or photos to wmoknews@frontier.com

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Christmas for Kids Toy Drive – Brought to you by Metropolis Professional Firefighters L-3367, Metropolis BETA SIGMA PHI and Illinois PSI ETA

The Christmas for Kids Toy Drive will take place on Saturday December 17th from 7am until 10am at the Metropolis Community Center on west 10th Street in Metropolis.

The event is open to residents living in Massac County and is open to ages 16 and under.

An onsite registration for is provided in which the following information will be needed:

Proof of Need – Medical or Link Card Proof of Age – Birth Certificate

Proof of Residency – Driver’s License/Photo ID of Adult

Proof of Relationship of that adult to child – Must be Parent or Guardian

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Linwood Motors Metropolis Holiday Food and Toy Drive

1634 E 5th St Metropolis – All are invited to drop off food and toys which will go to local families. Drop Offs are accepted through December 16th

If you are aware of a Food or Toy Drive taking place that is not included in our listing – please email the pertinent information and any associated graphics or photos to wmoknews@frontier.com

Fat Edd’s and Cordavinos have partnered with Hope Unlimited Family Care Center for Christmas.  Now through December 10th donations are being accepted in the form of new toys, clothing, and gift cards. Grab a tag off the tree at Fat Edd’s or Cordavinos that matches the age group of your donation, leave it with the gift under the tree and they will take care of the rest.

If you are aware of a Food or Toy Drive taking place that is not included in our listing – please email the pertinent information and any associated graphics or photos to wmoknews@frontier.com

WMOK News Check

Send events, press releases, questions for our Coffee Break guests and guest suggestions to wmoknews@frontier.com

The Metropolis Elks Hoop Shoot Free Throw Contest is coming up!