The “bad word of the year” for 2023 is “remigration”. This was announced by the language-critical “Unwort” campaign. The word has become “a euphemism for calls for forced expulsion and even mass deportations of people with a migration history” among right-wing and right-wing extremist groups, the statement says. It is a “right-wing fighting term” and an expression that obscures the actual intentions. “The term, which comes from migration and exile research and encompasses various, primarily voluntary, forms of return (including the return of Jewish people from exile after 1945), is deliberately ideologically appropriated and reinterpreted in such a way that a – politically demanded – inhumane deportation – and deportation practices are concealed.”
Every year, a five-person jury of linguists chooses a term as “unword of the year” that, in their view, violates the principles of human dignity or democracy, that discriminates against social groups or that is euphemistic, obfuscating or misleading. Last year the word “climate terrorists” was chosen. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of appropriate language use.
This time, the jury for the language-critical campaign received 2,301 entries, significantly more than last year. According to jury spokeswoman Constanze Spieß, for example, the term “social climate” was included as a derogatory term for financial resources and support measures for children in poverty. “Free mentality” as a term for the demand for public transport that is affordable for everyone and “Pride Month” as the opposite term to “Pride Month” and thus as a discrediting of the LGBTQ movement were also mentioned as suggestions.
The submissions also included the terms “deportation package” as a term for measures for faster deportations of rejected asylum seekers, “social welfare career” as a term for people who live on social benefits, or “war of attrition” as a term for the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.