Science fiction: ‘Metaverse’ in the running for Oxford’s Word of the Year 2022
14:10, 22 November 2022
Metaverse is one of three terms that the public can vote on for Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year, after Facebook’s rebrand to Meta (META) last year.
For the first time in its history, Oxford Languages has opened its word of the year competition to the public. This is giving people around the world a say in its final process.
Its team of lexicographers narrowed down 2022’s most influential words into a choice of just three. Users can choose their favourite via a poll on the Oxford Languages website.
Describing the metaverse’s impact this year, the website said: “We see the conceptual future brought into the vernacular in 2022. From hybrid working in VR, to debates over the ethics and feasibility of an entirely online future, usage of this word has quadrupled in October 2022 compared to the same period last year.”
The other two words and phrases in competition with metaverse are “goblin mode” and “#IStandWith”.
Metaverse’s underwhelming year
Facebook generated attention in October 2021 after changing its name to Meta, which reflected the company’s view that metaverses would be integral to the internet’s future.
Meta's (META) share price chart
As a result, already existing metaverses took off, along with their native cryptocurrencies. Platforms including Decentraland (MANA) and The Sandbox (SAND) saw new all-time highs for their tokens in November 2021.
But the virtual worlds could not seem to harness this excitement into 2022. While cryptocurrencies faced overwhelming bear pressure, the actual metaverse platforms were criticised over their low user counts.
Meanwhile, the newly rebranded Meta was facing its own complications. The technology giant was mocked online after CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his avatar from Meta’s virtual platform.
Looks great! pic.twitter.com/aFFcvLv4ES
— james hennessy (@jrhennessy) August 16, 2022
The post was criticised over its simplistic graphics and had people questioning the billions of dollars invested into Meta’s virtual reality.
Most recently, Meta announced it was laying off 13% of its workforce, with more than 11,000 staff leaving the company.
Metaverse’s competition
There are two other words competing for Oxford Dictionary’s annual title. #IStandWith, a term popularised through social media, “recognises the activism and division that has characterized this year”.
Examples listed by the dictionary include the war in Ukraine and the Depp v. Heard court case.
Meanwhile, goblin mode “is another relatively new concept” with the term’s usage dating back to 2009. Goblin mode refers to rejecting “societal expectations put upon us, in favour of doing whatever one wants to”.
Last year’s popular words
While vax was Oxford dictionary’s word of the year in 2021, Collins Dictionary opted for a more blockchain-themed term.
It gave the annual title to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which soared in popularity that year. Tokenised artwork with record breaking prices and tokens with gaming utility contributed to NFTs number one status
Collins Dictionary said: “Whether the NFT will have a lasting influence is yet to be determined, but its sudden presence in conversations around the world makes it very clearly our Word of the Year.”
Markets in this article
