If I see 'Reichwing' one more time, I'm going to blow a fuse

[GirlinContempt]

People seem to find this somehow clever or poignant. Guess what? It's not. What you're saying amounts to realmwing. Even if you take it politically, it was Bismarck that started using it to describe united Germany in the 1800s. It doesn't mean nazi. And the third such system WITHIN unified Germany happened to be the Nazis. That word still doesn't mean nazi. It means either realm or commonwealth, OR Unified Germany. Period.

And even if you somehow think it means Nazi, that's still tacky and disrespectful.

[Benfea]

1. I prefer "protofascist" myself.

I've always felt "protofascist" was more accurate than "cryptofascist." Modern Republicans have brought this nation to a point that is analogous to the Nazi party before they took complete control of Germany (not after as so many of the Nazi comparisons suggest). Besides, "cryptofascist" implies that they admit their fascist leanings to themselves.

[GirlinContempt]

5. Whatever floats your boat

I'm more annoyed with the total lack of understanding

[Benfea]

9. I out-pedanted you. Admit it!

*wink*

[GirlinContempt]

12. Never!

[Benfea]

18. Oh yeah?

Your Flesch-Kincaid readability score for original post: 68 (3% easier to read than average writing on the Internet)

My Flesch-Kincaid readability score for original response: 44 (4% harder to read than average writing on the Internet)

Numbers don't lie!

[ghostsofgiants]

25. Yes they do...

(And with that, I bid you all good night.)

[ghostsofgiants]

2. But we can still call them Rethugs, or the oh-so-brilliant Repukes, or...

Any of those other witty nicknames that are sure signs of political maturity if it ever existed, right?

[GirlinContempt]

3. Hey, whatever makes you feel superior

[billyskank]

31. Delete

Wrong place x(

[ghostsofgiants]

34. So I'm not worth an appreciation thread, huh?

:P

[billyskank]

38. You need to work on your ranting

GC may teach you, if you ask her nicely. :)

[ghostsofgiants]

39. I can put out a mean rant if I feel the urge.

I'm just far too lazy most of the time.

[HEyHEY]

4. I like fuckrags

[GirlinContempt]

6. I had you pegged as a 'fuckstick'

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

37. You did??? Ooooooo give us the lurid details please!

:evilgrin:

[jobycom]

7. Republican doesn't technically mean "lying filthy murdering scum" either

but it gets the message across. :-)

[GirlinContempt]

8. Reichwing doesn't get any message across

to anyone who knows anything about the language. Or that particular history.

[jobycom]

10. So you're saying

that to the minority of Americans who are still literate and educated in history that the phrase is incomprehensible?

[GirlinContempt]

11. I dunno how many of them are out there

But it's not incomprehensible, it just doesn't make sense and therefore doesn't get a 'message' across. Unless the message is 'realm wing' which is how I read it.

[jobycom]

14. That's what I'm saying/

To most people it delivers a point. To those who "know better" it doesn't make sense.

Language is full of words falling from their technical meaning into something completely different. Fighting the evolution of language is like fighting the spinning of the planets.

[GirlinContempt]

15. evolution of langauge?

Riiiiight :eyes: Thats what this is.

[jobycom]

24. Yes, that's what it is, and if rolled eyes are the entire substance of

your discussion, I guess I'm wasting my time. I thought we were just talking. I didn't attack you, insult you, or do anything that would earn such an insult.

And you misspelled right. Anyone who knows anything about the English language would be offended by your use of extra vowels in that word. There is no English word, nor any word in any other language that I know of, that is spelled that way, so clearly your spelling is offensive to me and makes no sense at all in reality. :sarcasm:

I thought we were having a nice, polite discussion. Silly me.

[GirlinContempt]

27. I should have waited till this morning to reply

I was just tired and blah last night. Though, relax a little cause rolled eyes aren't an insult.

The definition of evolution is gradual progression to a superior form. I don't think thats what we have, because it's like suddenly someone decided to use the word and everyone else had to bend the definition of that word for it to make any sense in that context. Linguistic change just HAPPENS, it isn't a forced idea.

And I don't buy that the new definition is superior. Taking over a whole word in a different language just to insult people who don't agree with you politically isn't a better use of the word. And making it mean 'nazi" and using it like that is just another in a long list of things that are disrespectful to people who have lived through oppressive genocidal purges.

[jobycom]

41. I never thought of evolution as requiring "progression to a superior form"

So there is miscommunication. Language is a constantly changing process, is all I mean. As I said in another post to someone else, English is full of foreign words misinterpreted into the language, and many of them have been the result of some spin or another. If communication is achieved, and by communication I mean connotation and denotation, that's the only point of language. Language has no responsibility to stay pure or honor other languages. What we think of as proper English is full of words and constructs that were once considered horrible corruptions.

As for the broader questions on equating "nazi" with other events and that being disrespectful to victims of the original--the whole point of drawing parallels to the Nazi era is to prevent it from happening again. Preventing more victims of atrocity to me is a higher goal than worrying too much about whether our language will fail to fully honor past victims of atrocities.

I understand your points, and if you've seen my posts before you know I don't use such terms. I don't like name-calling as insult. I just disagreed with part of your linguistic premise.

[GirlinContempt]

44. Preventing atrocity

It's about using childish nonsense to drag someone else through the mud so you don't have to go through the effort of actually addressing the problems you have with them. MAYBE if Bush started passing laws about, say, having a big L on your passport or something I could see where you're coming from.

But it is not the same.
All the comparisons are fairly minor, and you aren't drawing attention to the comparisons, you're making uninformed generalizations to try and smear your enemy so you don't have to deal with him.

A lot of people don't even think of Nazi's as human. We dehumanized them, because it's easier to deal with that kinda shit when you don't have to relate it to yourself. And saying things like 'reichwing' or 'bushitler' bring to mind genocidal atrocities, not bureaucratic similarities. And that is disrespectful. Millions of people died, and you use that to smear your political enemies, not to prevent any kind of atrocity.

[ghostsofgiants]

21. See, that's not how I read it at all...

I read it as, "let's bring this discourse down to the intellectual lever of middle-schoolers."

But that's just me.

[HEyHEY]

16. Yeah, it is

YOu guys are perverting the language and history in one swoop. Soon people will foget what that Nazi's actually did... then it will be absorbed into the system and forgotten.

[jobycom]

22. You guys?

Which guys am I? It's not a term I've ever used, and if you've ever read my posts, I'm vehement about not using these silly plays on names, or any other name calling, as insults.

My point was lingustic and historical. Language changes constantly. "Proper" English is full of words corrupted from other languages, often based on misunderstandings. To the majority of Americans, or those who would even recognize "reich," the word is associated with Nazi Germany. To the minority who understands what the word means, the meaning of the insult is still clear. Therefore it's communication. I don't get bent out of shape when someone uses the word "pagan" to refer to a religion, or alternatively to a lack of a religion, just because I know the word originally had the connotation of "redneck," and had nothing to do with religion. I understand what is meant, and respect the speaker enough to not quibble. Oh look, I split an infinitive. How horrible.

[Oeditpus Rex]

13. Well, obviously, this is not meant to be taken literally

It refers to any manufacturers of fascism.

[GirlinContempt]

17. Even if that WAS the case

Which I don't think it is, I'd find it tacky as stated above.

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. I think it is the case

Most Americans would think "Third Reich" when they hear "Reich," and they'd associate the Third Reich with evil incarnate. It's a metaphor.

Why do you find it tacky? Because it's too easy? If that's the case, I agree. I have little use for epithets such as "Rush Limpballs" because they're so sophomoric.

If you're going to insult someone, do it with panache. Leave them scratching their heads and impotent for a retort.

[GirlinContempt]

28. I find it tacky

to compare your problems with that of Nazi germany, ad nauseum.

[hfojvt]

20. wissen Sie nicht?

jeder Deutsch bedeutet Nazi.
So Reichwing, Donauwing, gelbwing, lichtgeschwindigkeitwing, etc. bedeutet Nazi

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2749937#2749985

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=199319#200342

[GirlinContempt]

23. I wasn't aware

Thanks for clearing that up

[Initech]

26. Personally, I like the term "Bushjevik"

I've seen that posted around here lately. :popcorn:

[Benfea]

40. That's a good one. ;) -NT

[RandomKoolzip]

29. I always thought it referred to Queensryche.

Although Bush is neither silent nor lucid.

[GirlinContempt]

30. I dunno man, I can kinda see it

[DS1]

36. Big metal hair and backlighting

Always a winning combination :D

[billyskank]

32. If you're not careful

I will start an appreciation thread about you :hi:

[GirlinContempt]

33. Uh oh!

:hi: haha watch out you don't wanna make me vain, doll

[JVS]

35. You're forgetting about the 1st Reich, Bimarck's was the second...

and was the "small germany" desired by the Prussians so as not to be dominated by Austria, which had been the dominant power in the "Holy Roman Empire"

[Kellanved]

42. Thank you!

It is one of the most consistently stupid phrases seen on DU. It is the one word that says "Poster has no idea about history and uses easy catchphrases and lazy comparisons to copy points from others"... in 10 feet high pink illuminated letters.

[Mojambo]

43. Reichwing.

What? I own stock in a fuse company!