Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2022 is gaslighting. I appreciate this, because despite considering myself a literate person, I have not been able to figure out what people mean when they use this word. And I am not alone apparently. But basically, it is just lying, or intentionally misleading someone, or what we used to call propaganda. I concluded from the article that people say it to sound smart, but they don’t really know what it means, and it can mean a variety of different things. So now I feel less dumb when I hear smart people say this word.

Runners up were “oligarch”, “omicron”, and “codify”.

LGBT is now LGBTQIA. The Q can stand for either “queer” or “questioning”. The I is “intersex” – I don’t know what this means. And A can stand for “asexual”, “aromantic”, and “agender”. When I first read that I read “aromatic”. Well, people of any gender or sexual preference can be aromatic, sometimes more or less pleasingly so.

Sentient is an interesting word. To me, it is the ability to feel. It comes up in the context of artificial intelligence, but also applies to animals and babies, among other entities. Plants? I don’t know, they have the ability to sense light, moisture, salt, and nutrients among other things. Is that sentience? Sentience and self-awareness are not the same, which is interesting.

Loamy – farmers and soil scientists are aware of this word, if other people are just discovering it good for you.

Raid? It’s a poison you spray out of can to kill bugs, which aren’t sentient so you don’t have to feel bad.

Consort? This is a gray area between “spouse” and “hooker” as far as I know.