[Ads-l] "gaslighting"

[Ben Zimmer]

"Gaslighting" was discussed extensively here in Jan. 2017.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2017-Januar
y/thread.html#145877

Ben Yagoda wrote a post for the Chronicle's Lingua Franca blog based on
that discussion.

https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/01/12/how-old-is-gaslight/


On Thu, Jan 11, 2018 at 8:38 PM, James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>
wrote:

> a new term to me.  I believe it comes from the title of the movie
> "Gaslight", in which a crook tries to convince his wife that she is crazy.
>
> http://www.bbc.com/news/stories-42460315
>
> <quote>
> Greg, a Canadian lawyer, is 28 but he's already had 11 serious
> relationships. He says each of those relationships ended with infidelity,
> on his part, and severe self-doubt on the part of the women. He is a
> self-confessed "gaslighter".
>
> "Looking back it's clear that I was gaslighting the women and slowly
> making them second-guess their version of reality," he says.
>
> He's speaking out now to give insight into the mind of a gaslighter, and
> to warn women of the tell-tale signs.
>
> Gaslighting has been described as psychological abuse where false
> information is deliberately presented to the victim - the purpose being to
> make the victim question their own memory and perception of events.
>
> <snip> <end quote>
>
>

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