'Toxic' is Oxford Dictionaries' 2018 word of the year. 'Gaslighting' and 'techlash' are among runner

[demmiblue]

The word that best captures the “ethos, mood, or preoccupations” of 2018 is “toxic,” according to Oxford Dictionaries, which this week crowned the acetic adjective its word of the year.

“Toxic” was judged to “have lasting potential as a term of cultural significance."

“In 2018, toxic added many strings to its poisoned bow becoming an intoxicating descriptor for the year’s most talked about topics,” observed the online dictionary, produced by Oxford University Press.

Among the runners-up was “gaslighting.” Coined by the 1938 play “Gas Light” and later made famous by the 1944 film starring Ingrid Bergman, as Oxford said, it means “the action of manipulating someone by psychological means into accepting a false depiction of reality or doubting their own sanity.” The dictionary noted its frequent use to describe tactics employed by President Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/11/16/toxic-is-oxford-dictionaries-word-year-gaslighting-techlash-are-among-runners-up/?utm_term=.90b688a37ca2&tid=sm_tw

[Cetacea]

1. Thanks n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. That picture could illustrate another runner-up - 'gammon'

Gammon, the traditional British pub grub served with pineapple or a fried egg (or both, if you’re lucky) has had something of a renaissance in 2018 – though not due to any sudden food fads. Thanks to parallels drawn between the fleshy, pink meat and the visages of older, white men flushed in anger, gammon has become a derogatory term in political circles.

This usage can be traced back to the night of the UK general election in 2017, when children’s author Ben Davis jokingly tweeted a photoset of nine men from the audience of BBC panel show Question Time – in which politicians and other guests answer topical questions posed by the public – calling it ‘this Great Wall of gammon’.

Link to tweet

The term was later picked up by left-wing activists and weaponized, with many viewing gammon as an answer to insults hurled by right-wing opponents, such as ‘snowflake’ and ‘remoaner’. In May 2018, gammon rapidly gathered steam, with Davis' relatively old tweet gaining thousands of retweets, propelling the insult into the mainstream consciousness and gaining widespread media coverage. Subsequently, debate arose as to whether gammon could be considered a racist term because of its basis on skin colour, and what was once said in jest became a political hot potato.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-year/shortlist-2018

But not 'incel'. If only he had been an incel.