In this season when the literati customarily announce their chosen “word of the year,” English dictionary giants like Merriam-Webster and Oxford tend to seize on provocative terms of the moment, such as “gaslighting” and “goblin mode.”

But the University of Hawaii’s choices for Hawaii’s word of the year veer kinder and gentler.

“In-person” is the 2022 Word of the Year for Hawaii, as selected by the academics at the UH Manoa Department of English.

“In-person” is “all about people being back together” more consistently, finally, on campus and across society after so much time restricted at home and online in the COVID-19 pandemic, explained John David Zuern, professor and acting English department chair.

“It’s been a joyous experience. …” he said. “Returning to mostly ‘in-person’ classes and gatherings on campus has deepened our appreciation for how being together in the same space strengthens our personal and professional connections.

“Just walking around the city, you can see that it feels more back to normal. And, you know, even things like going out to a restaurant and being with your friends and having a drink. All those in-person experiences, I think we just appreciate them a little bit more, and a little bit differently.”

At the Aloha State’s public university, even the selection process for the word of the year tends warm-and-fuzzier as well: A half-dozen program heads who make up the executive committee of the UH Manoa English Department simply meet and talk story and reach a consensus, Zuern said. There’s no formal vote.

Oxford, by contrast asked the public to vote for the first time on its 2022 word of the year, drawing more than 300,000 votes. The cheeky winner, “goblin mode,” is defined as “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations,” says a statement from Oxford Languages.

At Merriam-Webster, where the word of the year is the trending term that is most frequently looked up on its website, “gaslighting” — “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage” — saw a 1,740% increase in lookups this year.

Back at UH, even this year’s runner-up, “micro- affections,” evokes positivity. Zuern’s definition: “the small, but important ways we affirm each other in our everyday interactions.”

“‘Micro-aggressions’ have gotten talked about a lot, but there are micro- affections as well,” he said. “That’s the way you say, ‘Oh, I really liked what you said in that meeting,’ or ‘I read your article and I thought it was great’ … connecting with people, again, in this spontaneous, really informal, but really affirmative way.”

UH’s past years’ choices for word of the year also have evoked warmth.

In 2021, “care” was the Hawaii word of the year chosen by the UH English department — a nod to not only the health care crucial in the pandemic, but the care for others that social movements call for, and care for self.

In 2020, the first year UH issued a word of the year, it was the fitting “resilience,” not only in response to the chaos amid the start of the pandemic, but to social challenges and climate change as well.

“It’s not like we’re trying to be aloha,” Zuern said. “We are aware of what’s happening in our culture. We are aware of what’s happening in politics. But I think our role is to encourage and inspire, and affirm. We want to recognize people’s strength.”