Metaverse Becomes The Second Popular Term In Word Of The Year 2022 Oxford, Losing To Best Mode

Stationary Mode, so the most popular term in the 2022 Word of the Year Oxford University Press. (photo: twitter @OxUniPress)

JAKARTA - The "Metaverse" is in second place after its "loss mode" as Oxford University Press' Word of the Year 2022 after this process opened up to voters, for the first time.

In its December 4 announcement, Oxford said the viral term "modemen" beat "metaverse" and #IStandWith to be the best word in 2022.

According to Oxford research, the use of the term metaverse "enhanced almost four times from the previous year at Oxford Corpus", driven partly by Facebook's rebranding to Meta in October 2021.

The ‘goblin community’ has spoken! We’re pleased to announce goblin mode as the #OxfordWOTY 2022. Read more about this year’s winning choice here #TeamGoblinMode: https://t.co/NmC2UYau3U pic.twitter.com/yqQ9eIlIeQ

— Oxford University Press (@OxUniPress) December 5, 2022

Metaverse lost toAT mode, which went viral in February, as it appeared "catching the mood of individuals who refused the idea of returning to 'normal life' after the COVID-19 lockdown was lifted in many areas.

While the hashtag #IStandWith ranks third in the contest, driven by social media hashtags including #IStandWithUkraine following Russia's invasion of the country in February.

"As we grapple with relatively new concepts such as hybrid work in virtual reality spaces, the metaverse is deeply concerned with debates about the ethics and feasibility of a fully online future," said Oxford Languages.

"A viable opponent for the'modeLE', 'the metaverse' gains a voice appeal with the crypto community and publications. We see this term continues to be used because more votes join the debate about its future sustainability and sustainability," the Oxford added, quoted by Cointelegraph.

In a video promotion for the'metaverse' released last November, Oxford said the term came from Neil Stephenson's "Snow Crash's science fiction survey," which was released in 1992.

More than 300,000 people voted among the three terms chosen by Oxford Languages.

NFT, or nonfungible tokens, won the Collins Dictionary contest for the word 2021, while vax took first place as the Oxford option word of choice in the same year. Recent results appear to represent a change in social media spirit surrounding crypto-related terms, which reportedly fell in the first quarter of 2022.