re: Gaslighting - Most vague phrase ever?

I largely agree. Particularly about the evolution of the term. There isn’t anyone qualified to tell you which language and symbols are suppose to be used unless you are agreeing on specific conventions for use

Language evolves and it’s evolution enhances communication. It allows people that want to join conversations to express themselves without having to wade through lots of potentially boring or non related texts. Sometimes words and phrases lose power with overuse (eg “rent free”), and sometimes people will use newer words to exclude from the conversation. Indeed, there is one poster who just makes up his own abbreviations

Obviously some conversations require more precision. A psychologist probably couldn’t meaningfully use a diagnosis of “gaslit” to help advance treatment. Nevertheless, it works fine here

As for differences today, I do think Bill Clinton and his political progency were users of these tactics at the same degree as today. We just didn’t have a term for it then. We had to settle for “Slick Willy”. If we had the modern “gaslighting” in our Mr vocabulary, we could have discussed it better