5 ms·

This is admittedly off topic, but how did the term "gaslight/lit" become so common in recent years? I had never heard of it until several years ago when someone

This is admittedly off topic, but how did the term "gaslight/lit" become so common in recent years? I had never heard of it until several years ago when someone close was going through therapy regarding a loved one. Now, it's like I'm shopping for a mattress and I'm being inundated with mattress ads. That's not to take way from your experience or suggest it's not the appropriate word, I'm quite sure it is. I'm just curious if I was really oblivious of concept before my own exposure to it, or if it was called something else?

jffry 4y ago
I don't know but Google Trends [1][2] bears out that it's very recently common. My best guess is that it has come up as part of the Amber Heard / Johnny Depp trial and that has spurred a lot of people searching for it. [1] Past 5 years, March & earlier - https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2017-03-01%202022-03-01&geo=US&q=gaslit https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2017-03-01%202... [2] Past 90 days including giant spike - https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%203-m&geo=US&q=gaslit https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%203-m&ge... (if you go to past year you can see the spike)
- andai 4y ago
  "gaslighting" has a steady upward curve the last 10 years. My personal guess is that it has to do with psychology and mental health awareness going mainstream due to social media and psychology channels on YouTube. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=gaslit,gaslighting https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=g...
yourad_io 4y ago
The term "gaslighting" derives from the 1944 film Gaslight, in which a husband uses trickery to convince his wife that she is mentally unwell so he can steal from her. Gaslighting was largely an obscure or esoteric term until the mid-2010s, when it broadly seeped into English lexicon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting
glitcher 4y ago
I have also noticed this. It feels like gaslighting has become the new "literally".
- dane-pgp 4y ago
  But "gaslighting" and "literally" fill completely different semantic niches! I feel like you're literally gaslighting me by suggesting that. /s
dane-pgp 4y ago
I don't want to further derail this thread by bringing politics into it, but let's just say that the term suddenly started being used a lot in news headlines starting in around 2016: https://www.salon.com/2016/10/16/donald-trump-as-a-gaslighter-what-we-must-learn-from-his-manipulative-non-apology/ https://www.salon.com/2016/10/16/donald-trump-as-a-gaslighte...
oreally 4y ago
You might be a fairly 'protected' person. This is one of the ways unscrupulous managers try to get you to do things that are detrimental to you yet beneficial to themselves/the company - to get you into a state of self-doubt and misery so that you'll make the decision yourself. One way to get around this is recording everything you do and feel on a daily basis. Otherwise it's one claim against the other. Historically, it's similar to the way women try to control men since they're not as physically competitive - if you've seen chinese dramas featuring an emperor and his wives it always boils down the cliche of 'oh but it's for you, the emperor's sake' or something like that.

jffry 4y ago

I don't know but Google Trends [1][2] bears out that it's very recently common. My best guess is that it has come up as part of the Amber Heard / Johnny Depp trial and that has spurred a lot of people searching for it. [1] Past 5 years, March & earlier - https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2017-03-01%202022-03-01&geo=US&q=gaslit https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2017-03-01%202... [2] Past 90 days including giant spike - https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%203-m&geo=US&q=gaslit https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%203-m&ge... (if you go to past year you can see the spike)

andai 4y ago
"gaslighting" has a steady upward curve the last 10 years. My personal guess is that it has to do with psychology and mental health awareness going mainstream due to social media and psychology channels on YouTube. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=gaslit,gaslighting https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=g...

yourad_io 4y ago

The term "gaslighting" derives from the 1944 film Gaslight, in which a husband uses trickery to convince his wife that she is mentally unwell so he can steal from her. Gaslighting was largely an obscure or esoteric term until the mid-2010s, when it broadly seeped into English lexicon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting

glitcher 4y ago

I have also noticed this. It feels like gaslighting has become the new "literally".

dane-pgp 4y ago
But "gaslighting" and "literally" fill completely different semantic niches! I feel like you're literally gaslighting me by suggesting that. /s

dane-pgp 4y ago

I don't want to further derail this thread by bringing politics into it, but let's just say that the term suddenly started being used a lot in news headlines starting in around 2016: https://www.salon.com/2016/10/16/donald-trump-as-a-gaslighter-what-we-must-learn-from-his-manipulative-non-apology/ https://www.salon.com/2016/10/16/donald-trump-as-a-gaslighte...

oreally 4y ago

You might be a fairly 'protected' person. This is one of the ways unscrupulous managers try to get you to do things that are detrimental to you yet beneficial to themselves/the company - to get you into a state of self-doubt and misery so that you'll make the decision yourself. One way to get around this is recording everything you do and feel on a daily basis. Otherwise it's one claim against the other. Historically, it's similar to the way women try to control men since they're not as physically competitive - if you've seen chinese dramas featuring an emperor and his wives it always boils down the cliche of 'oh but it's for you, the emperor's sake' or something like that.