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---
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title: Barbaric
slug: barbaric
flag:
text: 'Neo-Colonial/Racist slur'
level: 'avoid'
defined: true
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speech: adjective
reading:
- text: "is the word barbarian a slur?"
href: https://seetobehumanityearth.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/is-the-term-barbarian-a-slur/
- text: "Barbarian wiki"
href: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian
alt_words:
- cruel
- vicious
- obscene
- feral
---
something which is obscenely cruel; primitive; unsophisticated
#### Issues
Barbarian originates from the Greek word *bárbaros* meaning "babbler", to denote the "unintelligible sounds" (_"bar bar bar"_) made by foreign speakers.
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Similar words exist in many other languages, for the identical purpose labeling a "strange"/"foreign" person/culture.
In modern day usage, you can notice this rhetoric being employed almost always for the purpose of demonizing "foreign" (more often than not from the global south) cultures - cultures that need to be civilized;
cultures that need to be colonized to rescue them from themselves. A perfect lingual weapon for warmongers and racists alike. Equally repulsive sibling of "savage".
#### Impact
2020-02-12 18:38:00 +09:00
When you use words, that are in vogue primarily inside circles of bigots, with racist etymologies, it's a wilful act of violence, ignorance and an indication to the vilified and minoritised communities that their history of wounds and abuses are inconsequential to our words.
2020-01-17 14:42:15 +09:00
#### Usage Tip
Avoid words that have obscene etymologies. There is almost always a better alternative: an inclusive and a less hurtful one.