The paper investigates „Sprachliche Verrohung“ (linguistic neglection/brutalization), a term that has been recently and often used within the German mass media. It seems, however, that there is no common understanding of what „Sprachliche Verrohung“ is. To obtain a definition, a thinkaloud study was conducted: 40 participants judged relevant linguistic examples by verbalizing aloud their thoughts and ideas. The obtained think-aloud protocols are analysed and the following definition is derived: Expressions of „Sprachliche Verrohung“ are in conflict with the linguistic norm and speakers uses them despite their knowledge of this conflict.