Junior Year English Journal #14

What is a barbaric yawp, and what is yours?

I believe that a barbaric yawp is an instinctual cry, which can be external or internal depending on the person. An example of a popular barbaric yawp would be the guys in those Anheuser-Busch Budweiser commercials who yell "Wasssup!" to each other as a greeting that comes with its own identification. Another example of a commercial barbaric yawp would be the cell phone guy who goes around asking, "Can you hear me now?" My own barbaric yawp took me a while to figure out, mainly because I had never really deeply considered what it was. My barbaric yawp is the word "beauteous." I am not even sure if it is a real word but I use it whenever I see a great play in hockey or any other sport. I feel I use it as much as Animal Planet Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin uses the expression, "Crikey!"