I'll be damned. Tweety finally called some Repug asshole for using "Democrat" ...

[11 Bravo]

instead of Democratic. Ron Christie, a Repug hack immediately backed down. I have taken to challenging everyone who uses the term in my presence: "Are you ignorant of the name of the party to which you refer, or is this just your juvenile little attempt at name-calling?"

[Virginia Dare]

1. Christie is one of Cheney's trolls....

I'm glad he called him on it.

Congrats on the Webb win 11 Bravo, I know you worked hard for him!!

[11 Bravo]

16. Thanks. Even though I don't agree with him on everything (as I have told him many times)

he is a good man and the real deal. I think Virginia done good!

[Virginian]

92. I was getting so embarrased to have Allen as my senator.

Maybe he'll move back to Southern California and make an ass of himself there. He could run for office in California. That's what he can do after January, Run for something and campaign in California.

[calimary]

94. NO! Please! We don't want him! We have more than our share of asses

out here. We've sent a number of them eastward as it is (for which I apologize! I had NOTHING to do with it!).

[StraightDope]

102. Send him to Texas...

He'll fit right in. My apologies, Texans, but I can't stand your state.

[SammyWinstonJack]

105. Just what we need here, more politicians who are scum! Thanks!

:eyes:

[Reciprocity]

107. Yes we Texans get bashed on a regular basses here. What great state are you from?

[StraightDope]

109. The only state that gets bashed for its redneckness more than Texas...

Let's see if you can figure it out, and if not, I'll tell you.

This will be fun!

[Vinca]

2. A few days ago I emailed MSNBC and informed them

the use of "Democrat" as an adjective was disrespectful and a Republican-generated slur. I'm sure thousands of others have emailed as well. Have they actually listened to us?

[Cha]

45. Thanks for doing that..props

to you!

[Big Kahuna]

3. I never understood what the issue is with "Democrat"

who cares? These guys can't even pronounce "nuclear" correctly.

It just seems like needless nit-picking, and makes us look like a bunch of weenies.

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. Use it here on DU and you'll get a lesson very quickly.

Believe me. It ain't pretty.

[Big Kahuna]

12. Democrat party!

There, I said it. Feel free to open a can of whoop-ass. :evilgrin:

[TheCowsCameHome]

21. If the group that took me to the woodshed are online, you'll get it.

I remembered their names, I'll be watching here.

[Bucky]

25. What, for saying "Democrat party"? What's wrong with saying "Democrat party"?

:popcorn:

[TheCowsCameHome]

26. Stay tuned.

You will be answered before long, I'll bet.

[GrantDem]

56. The simple answer is...

that is not the name of the party.

It is the Democratic Party. It is term used by repukes to get around using the term Democratic since they seem to have a general disdain for democracy or anything democratic. More importantly it is about language control and not allowing ourselves to be defined by GOP rightwing nuts and their MSM mouthpieces.

[CitizenLeft]

103. also...

...they use DemocRAT as a pejorative. They are calling us rats. I'm glad he said something. I've had it with the peurile pettiness of the right.

[MODemocrat]

113. What happened to "liberals"?

I was just beginning to love that badge of honor; now it's Democrats; they can call me any of those names they want, but, they'd better never call me a republican in any form. :dem:

[Kip Humphrey]

114. Actually it was a Frank Lunz focus group study that found

"Democrat Party" consistently drew higher negatives than did "Democratic Party" due to the former's harsher sound.

[lonestarnot]

80. and there's your ass whup'n!

:spank: :spank: :spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank::spank: :spank:

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

104. Well, if you don't know, just ask a Republic. n/t

MKJ

[drm604]

85. Self delete

lonestarnot beat me to it.

[Vinca]

8. I read somewhere that it dates back to the McCarthy era and

when using the word that way, the emphasis is supposed to be on "rat."

[wicket]

14. Check out the link to the wikipedia entry in my post below

n/t

[Vinca]

15. That was interesting. It's worse than I thought! nt

[originalpckelly]

27. Prescott Bush used it in this interview posted from 1953:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPPHRHLOOMQ

"Democrat National Committee"

[tibbiit]

54. He is a Blinkie like his Grandson

Blink Blink
bushs lie while blinking lol, a family trait it seems.
tib

[Shakespeare]

37. It's NOT "needless nit-picking." It's about power by controlling language.

I posted a much more detailed thread about this a week or so ago, which is now in the archives (and the archives are locked up due to high traffic at the moment, so I can't pull the link).

This, however, gives a good summary:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200608160005

It's very important. It's also totally Orwellian.

[BlooInBloo]

112. It's amazing how compartmentalized peoples' thinking can be....

... You guys finally got to the nub of the matter (exercise of linguistic power that trickles down into other areas) for "Democrat" (adj). And yet there are always a jillion-and-one threads full of DUers complaining about "Political Correctness".

Sigh.

[SoCalDem]

38. That's the reason they DO it.. because when WE complain, they

turn it around on US..

They are a clever bunch..

It's like calling your mother "Ma", when she obviously wants you to call her "Mom".. or your nemesis insisting on calling you Willie, when YOU want to be called William.

They do it deliberately, as a sneaky little bit of "code-speak".. It's demeaning.

Republicans seized on framing the language, and use all kinds of these tactics. When they are called on it, they always pull out thei bottle of "Feign-Feign", and claim they don;t know what you are talking about.

It's exactly how we got :
Clear Skies
Partial-birth abortion
Healthy Forests
the death Tax
and so many more on their "Hit Parade"

[Crunchy Frog]

43. Please read this article.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/060807ta_talk_hertzberg

[Shakespeare]

50. "the partisan equivalent of flashing a gang sign"

That is a perfect description.

[Orsino]

98. One motivation missing from the article...

...is the sheer childish joy of assigning a nickname to someone as a way of asserting dominance. That bookish kid in class? Call him "professor." Call yourself "Bolshevik" with sufficient volume and frequency, and folks will begin calling your opponents "Menshevik"--even though they are the majority.

[InvisibleTouch]

122. That's it exactly!

"Assigning a nickname to someone as a way of asserting dominance." Bingo. And as another poster said, it's akin to an enemy calling you one variation of your name, when you prefer another.

When you've picked a name/description for yourself, and someone else insists upon using a name of their choosing, they're essentially saying that your choice doesn't matter, you have no power in the matter, and they have the right to define who you are.

This is an issue I have a lot of personal experience with, so I feel strongly about it. Only you have the right to define yourself. Nobody else has that right - and when they try to do it, they should be slammed down for it immediately.

[beachmom]

75. Because it screams RAT. It is a derogatory term, plain and simple.

And for grammar sticklers it's wrong.

See, Democrat Party doesn't sound as honorable as . . .

Democratic Party.

It pisses off the GOPers, because they have to use it when they say they want a democratic Iraq. So they try to lower the value of the opposition party by depriving us of our rightful name.

Anybody who says that in front of me WILL get corrected.

[Odin2005]

78. It started out as an honest gramatical mistake but was turned into a slur by RW talk radio.

[Der Blaue Engel]

90. I don't think they say nukular on accident either

It's a smarmy nose-thumbing at the "elites" who prefer that their elected representatives pronounce things correctly. It plays well with the "proud to be stupid" crowd.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Is he that cross-eyed stooge they drag out now and then?

His name sounds familiar.

[Mabus]

53. Yes.

And what an excellent description of Christie. :rofl: Those are the words that I used to describe him to my husband and he knew exactly who I was talking about.

[wicket]

5. "I have taken to challenging everyone who uses the term in my presence"

Same here - I'm so freakin' sick of it! There is an excellent entry on wikipedia on the use of "Democrat Party".

[SeattleGirl]

7. Cool!

I get so freakin' sick of hearing my party called the "Democrat" party. :grr:

[helderheid]

11. I respond that they are from the Republic party - see how they like it

[SeattleGirl]

19. I've done the same thing.

I find that they don't like it very much......

[TheCowsCameHome]

23. I omit the "L" on purpose. More appropriate.

[lpbk2713]

36. Call them "the former republican party" or "what's left of the republican party".

in light of how they were decimated in the recent election in spite of their sleazy and yet unsuccessful attempts at stealing it.

[conscious evolution]

61. "the former republican party"

I use that one ,too
Also,the American wing of the Nazi Party.That one really makes their heads explode.

[liberaldemocrat7]

71. Call their Party the REPUBLIKLAN Party and they will stop.

They do not want to get exposed as the bigots.

Until they stop insulting us, call their party the REPUBLIKLAN Party.

[lonestarnot]

81. Just call them what they are: repiglicans, repukes, pugs, the party that favors torture

and hates our Constitution.

[originalpckelly]

44. No, it has to be more subtle, Republicon.

:-)

[lonestarnot]

82. I like that too!

[irislake]

35. But is it okay to say "Democrats"?

Can you say I'm a Democrat? Or do you have to say "I am a member of the Democratic party"?

[DemBones DemBones]

40. Of course you can say "I'm a Democrat" or otherwise use "Democrat" as

a NOUN. But the ADJECTIVE "Democratic" should be used when referring to "the Democratic Party" or "Democratic leaders." You don't modify one noun with another noun and I think the Republicans all know that perfectly well.

Then again, since "Republican" happens to be both a noun and an adjective, perhaps they can't handle the concept that not all nouns also serve as adjectives.

Naw, they do it because they like to say DemocRAT and because they like to suggest that our party is "not democratic," as if theirs is more democratic.

[Crunchy Frog]

46. Just follow basic rules for grammar and you'll be fine. n/t

[wicket]

58. yes, it's grammatically correct, "Democrat Party" is not

n/t

[kestrel91316]

76. The noun, Democrat, describes a member of the Democratic Party.

You really didn't think we call ourselves individual "Democratics", did you?

[texpatriot2004]

9. I like how you call them on it. nm

[LSK]

10. WTF - there was an anti-Tweety thread about an hour ago

:crazy:

:rofl:

[SeattleGirl]

13. I think Tweety has a split personality........

:rofl:

[tridim]

17. Tweety kicked ass on CNBC last night

His personality seems to change several times a day, every day. It's almost like he has an evil twin.

[LSK]

18. maybe theres 2 Tweetys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:rofl:

[SeattleGirl]

28. TWO of 'em???

Lord help us all!! :rofl:

[Cha]

49. Maybe there's three

tweetys?

[SeattleGirl]

51. Now I'm gonna have nightmares!

:rofl:

[lonestarnot]

83. What she said!

:scared:

[LittleClarkie]

91. Only two? Nah, more than that. He's Sybil.

That name fits him better than Tweety, me thinks.

[laststeamtrain]

20. Christie just made a point of saying "Democratic" party!!! It took!!!

:)

[TheCowsCameHome]

24. Sort of like using the "N" word, eh Ron?

He is such a jerkoff.

[MoonRiver]

22. They should all be called illiterate ignoramuses.

And good for Tweet! :thumbsup:

[irislake]

29. I know it's the Democratic Party

but why is it wrong to call somebody a Democrat? DUers refer to "Dems" all the time. Please explain to foreigner.

[SeattleGirl]

33. An individual is a Democrat. The party is the Democratic party.

That's the difference.

[DemBones DemBones]

42. See my post #40 above, responding to your first post asking

about this. I think that will answer your question but if not, ask again. :-)

[drm604]

88. It's not wrong.

Referring to somebody as a Democrat is correct. "Democrat" is the noun form of the word. "Democrat party" is incorrect since the first word is an adjective referring to the word "Party". The adjective form is "Democratic". Thus you have the "Democratic Party", Democratic politicians, Democratic policies, etc.

[muriel_volestrangler]

106. But as Wikipedia points out, English allows nouns to be used adjectivally

English (like some other Germanic languages) is unusual in that it allows nouns to be used adjectivally (i.e., in function they are "adjectives", in structure they are nouns), as in

a Georgia peach

or

his farewell letter.

In other languages, some sort of grammatical functor between the two nouns may be required.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective#Adjectival_use_of_nouns

The only reason "Democrat Party" is incorrect is because that happens not to be the name of the party. "Taxpayer Party" is a perfectly valid name. So is "Liberal Democrat Party":

The task is to build a strong, effective, powerful Liberal Democrat party with the objective of ensuring a greener, fairer, decentralised and democratic Britain at peace with itself at home and admired abroad.

party website

[Kerrytravelers]

30. Tweety must realize that since we're the Majority, he may want to

watch it a bit.

[KamaAina]

31. Looks like Tweety's clambering back aboard the Dem bandwagon

he's the political equivalent of those guys who are huge Dallas Cowboys fans, as long as the Cowboys are winning :eyes:

[irislake]

32. Is it as terrible as

calling somebody in America a "Liberal"? Or should I have said "the L word"?

[Der Blaue Engel]

86. Liberal is not an insult, no matter how much the cons try to make it one

Why would we be insulted by that? Is it an insult in Canada?

[Gwerlain]

34. Tweety hammers everybody, but does it more to...

Ds than Rs, is my experience. Still, when he decides he sees a particularly asinine R, he'll go after them. The Scarborough diatribe on election night was a pretty good example- although Scarborough backed him down. It's fun to watch when he's after someone on something real- and pretty angrifying (heh, is that a word?) when he's off on another R talking point, like with Dean also on election night.

It was really interesting what being co-host with KO did to him- I've seen Tweety get aggressive on his show before, but that night he really went to town.

And I think maybe the emails DID have an effect- I wrote too.

Meanwhile, I don't think it's just "rats" that make them say it- it's also the end of "bureaucrat." And the insult is obvious there, too. Nice response, Bravo. My favorite is to ask them if they'd prefer me to call them Reprehensible or Rethuglican.

[Shakespeare]

39. Mr. Matthews has my deepest gratitude.

I'm ENORMOUSLY glad to hear that he's doing this.

[Crunchy Frog]

41. Never thought I'd ever say this, but

God bless you Tweety.

I'm sure I'll be back to hating him again next week, but I have to applaud him for being pretty much the only media person I've heard of to do this. When is our Dem leadership going to start standing up for our correct name?

[Gwerlain]

48. How's...

January, 2007 grab you? :D

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

47. Good job, Tweety

It's been allowed to go on unmentioned for too long because it's supposedly a non-issue. But once you call them on it, you find these Rethugs know exactly what they are doing.

[peacetalksforall]

52. My fantasy is to have a network owned by Democrats. It's

becoming obvious that no one on their side is serious about getting along and it's back to juvenile behavior by the right wing based on what I'm reading here and what I heard first-hand this morning.

If there was a network for Democrats, our speakers would not have to take so much stuff from them by not appearing on GE Microsoft Time Warner Murdoch Disney Viacom. Then, we could get watchers who could stomach watching them and report to us as some watch the freeper world on the internet and report.

If not our own, I think Dems should demand one Democrat hour a day to make up for their right wing partnership with the WH and their battallions - after all the airwaves are still supposed to be ours, also.

Speaking of Tweety - how many times has he referred to WE when speaking of himself and the right wing?

In the meantime, watch or listen to Democracy Now five times a week to be truly educated.

[City Lights]

55. Wow! I had Hardball on earlier, but as usual, was half-listening and

missed it. I always miss the good stuff. :spank:

[Disturbed]

60. They say "Democrat Party". I say Rethug Party.

:evilgrin:

[NoBushSpokenHere]

57. I have been noticing the threads denouncing the name of

Democrat Party - I am a very strong Democrat and proud to belong to the Democrat Party - it makes no difference to me whether or not anyone uses the proper grammar when referring to us. I do believe there are much heavier issues to be concerned with.

Proud to be a Democratic Democrat!

P.S. While campaigning this year, I noticed a Democratic Party Headquarters with a sign stating, "Democrat Headquarters". Didn't make any difference to those walking in and out of that door, they were too busy campaigning to notice.

[Shakespeare]

64. I think that's absolutely pathetic. n/t

[City Lights]

66. Interesting take considering your DU handle.

"Democrat" Party sounds like bushspeak to me. :shrug:

[NoBushSpokenHere]

72. do you mean boooshspeak or bushspeak? lol nt

[w4rma]

68. You should read some history of the slur, then.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/060807ta_talk_hertzberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_party

[City Lights]

70. Nice links.

Thanks! :hi:

[NoBushSpokenHere]

73. I read the links, thanks but I still have to say

I have been called so many names in the past, Democrat Party doesn't upset me at all.

I have in the past few weeks refrain from calling our party that, but only because it means so much to many.

As I said before, there are more problems much more serious than this one.

For the sake of the 2,863 that have been killed in this illegal war, let's work on the issues that matter.

[Lautremont]

87. I usually don't even click on the threads that I think don't matter

much less post in them.

[w4rma]

95. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. (nt)

[City Lights]

100. I can multi-task, so I'll correct people when they call our party by its

incorrect name.

[Der Blaue Engel]

89. In Democrat Headquarters, it's not necessarily being used as an adjective

It's the same as NBC Headquarters, or company headquarters. Although Democratic Party Headquarters might have been a better choice.

[Ksec]

59. The republic party is good at name calling

I will give the republics credit for that.

[jgraz]

63. I'd go with Rape-ublican

Best describes what they're doing to this country. Also close enough to the "real" name that you have plausible deniability if someone complains :)

[Ksec]

62. BTW I wrote a local "journalist": and crucified her for using that term

She didnt write back .

I trust she got the message. She even used the word like this in one sentence: Democrat(ic)

I was really ticked off by this older lady who writes occasional opinion pieces in our local right wing newspaper.

[sniffa]

65. eh, i've been caLLing them the repubLic party for some time

fuck them. turn around is fair game.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

67. Yes, saw that.

Made me chuckle out loud. And that dipshit got all innocent looking, like a seven year old who got caught stealing a cookie.

[Cleita]

69. So how are we going to get Tweety to stop it?

I swear I heard him use it recently. Is he seeing the handwriting on the wall and changing his tune to match the changing politics?

[Gwerlain]

74. KO got more popular...

that oughta do it.

[in_cog_ni_to]

77. TWEETY said that? NO WAY!

"Are you ignorant of the name of the party to which you refer, or is this just your juvenile little attempt at name-calling?"

[OnionPatch]

79. The reason they do it

at least from what I understand, is because this was polled. Wasn't it Frank Luntz? "Democrat Party" left a less favorable impression on the listener than "Democratic" party. "Democratic" sounds more like something good: Democracy. They don't want people to think of that when they think of us. :eyes: Anyway, this is a deliberate misuse and I'm glad they're being called on it.

[msedano]

84. Since you raise the issue, Unitedstatesians, drop the "H" word.

Latinas Latinos, Chicanas Chicanos, are appropriate referents for Mexican-origin folks, and other peoples descended from a Spanish-speaking heritage. "H*span*c" is another of those government-engendered malapropisms.

The name of this country is The United States of America. People like me, a chicano, resent the hegemonistic "America" when you do not mean the continent but only one of the nations on the continent. Canadians are American. Mexicans are Americans. Guatemalans, Salvadoreñas Salvadoreños, and so on, are Americans, too. We live on this continent. We are Americans.

http://labloga.blogspot.com/2006/11/veterans-day-elegy.html

http://music.yahoo.com/track/12185440

edit: recommended

[Der Blaue Engel]

93. You seriously think we should call ourselves United Statesians?

Should the British call themselves United Kingdomians?

How about Mexicans? They should be the United Mexican Statesians.

Canada? Dominionians.

I respect everyone's right to be called what they wish to be called, which is why I use Latino/a, among other things. I request that you call me an American, thanks. The founders of this country called it the United States of America, not the United States of nowhere. No one else chose to put America in their name. We do not own the continent, but we do in fact have a right to a name we chose, and it in no way implies that we are unaware that there are also two continents with the word America in them.

[EFerrari]

96. Actually, that is precisely what it signals to the rest of the inhabitants

of this continent and it's the source of a lot of amusement at our expense. Probably not so much now as when this country was mostly huddled along the mid Northeast coast but, there you are.

[msedano]

97. don't give a hoot what brits want to be called

that's their business. same thing with the mexicana mexicano (although you can call me "mexican" and i don't mind).

moi, i'm a u.s. citizen and a u.s. army vet, to top that off with a soupçon of duty, honor, country. so i will call my country whatever the heck i want to call it. no, i will not join you & shrub--who appears not to know the real name of the country--in abusive language. intractable as "unitedstatesian" may seem today, give it a couple weeks, use it regularly until the name rolls off your tongue with poetic mellifluousness. it'll grow on you, there's a certain musicality you'll discover. when i was a kid most of my contemporaries freely used the word "american" or "the americans" to distinguish us from the people who called us "spic" "greaser" "beaner" "chili choker" "scum" "trash" "brown piece of shit" and all those lovely expressions of americanism.

there is a DU thread somewhere about the limits of language and the limits of one's world. "we do not own the continent" but we talk as if we own the continent. that's what "hegemonistic" means.

as you say, the folks who wrote the declaration & constitution chose the name "USofA", not utopia, i.e., "nowhere".

now, you can call me ray, or you can call me jay or you can call me ray jay...but you cannot call me "democrat party". QED.

[JerseygirlCT]

99. I've seen him do that a few times. I hope this happens more

often now. It's just rude.

[Oilwellian]

101. I caught it

My husband and I looked at each other and we busted out laughing when Tweety did it. Christie looked like the naughty little child he is.

[suston96]

108. Wow! Thanks for clearing that up.......

See, I thought that the Republican Party is the party of Republicans.

And I thought that the Democrat Party is the party of Democrats.

I am so glad that now I know that the Democratic Party is the party of Democratics.

And I am so proud of the Democratics winning all those elections. That shows how Democrat this country is becoming, eh?

[Shakespeare]

110. Did you forget this?

:sarcasm:

If not, you might want to review your basic grammar rules.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

111. There may be sarcasm in that post, but probably not the kind you think.

[rexcat]

115. Your lack of "knowledge" is telling...

try this web site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_party before you post something else. I must say the term "Moran" comes to mind. For that term try http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=358&topic_id=190&mesg_id=3214#m

[suston96]

116. Knowledge? Moran? Wikipedia?

Too much trouble. From now on I will just be grammatically correct and say: the Party of Democratics - and the Party of Republicans. That way I won't get into trouble.

[Ikonoklast]

118. It is always nice to see close-mindedness in action

And if you wish to stay willfully ignorant of the debate, well, that, too, is telling.

[suston96]

119. Debate?

Uh, sorry, but the grammatical usages step all over each other. Instinctively, I bristled at saying the "Democratic Party". To me that did not identify the singularity of the Party, but rather I sensed that the "Party was democratic". It doesn't matter, to me, but the sarcastic retorts were too tempting.

We have to get more 3000 county election centers all over this land, to trash their voting machines and to design and adopt paper ballots that will be both machine tabulated and hand counted. We have to get Congress to standardize federal elections and to take those federal elections away from the states. We have so much to do.

And here, and all over this board, and forum boards like this, we have discussions where Democrats fight Democrats over inanities like this. Does it occur to anyone else that Republicans are going to engage us in stuff like this to keep us away from the electoral process they corrupted?

Think about it. And that ain't "sarcasm". Unfortunately, it is reality.

[Atman]

121. Why don't you say the "party of Republics?"

Stop being a tool. Your argument makes absolutely no sense.

.

[suston96]

124. No sense?

"Why don't you say the "party of Republics?"

Stop being a tool. Your argument makes absolutely no sense."

"party of Republics"? That makes no sense. I already posted: "Party of Democrats, and Party of Republicans." Both nouns.

But I will stop being a "tool" and let you be the "tools" by spending time doing what Republicans want you to do. Argue about useless stuff.

[Atman]

125. And what, exactly, are YOU arguing about here?

:hi:

.

[suston96]

126. What's it all about...?

I already posted what it is all about, and I am not arguing. People's use of vocabulary and grammar no longer follows rules.

There is the party of Democrats and there is the party of Republicans and there is the party of Libertarians, and so on.

Of those three, Republican and Libertarian are both nouns and adjectives. Democrat is not. It is only a noun, unless people choose to make it an adjective.

So, 'Democrat Party" is grammatically wrong. But, seriously, I don't see how it is derogatory.

[Norquist Nemesis]

127. It's pejorative

There is no such thing as the "Democrat Party" in existence.

http://democrats.org/
http://democrats.org/a/party/stand.html
http://democrats.org/a/2006/01/dnc_charter_and.php

[suston96]

129. "Pejorative"?

Pejorative? Uh, if you say so. Those links you posted showed that "Democrat" was not used. That makes sense - the "Democrat Party" would be technically ungrammatical. But "pejorative" -casting ridicule on Democrats?

I cannot see how a mistake in grammar is pejorative. But some people may be offended by bad grammar and bad spelling.

[Norquist Nemesis]

130. It's not a "mistake in grammar"

That's why it is pejorative. It is intentional.

[suston96]

131. Intentional?

"Etymology: Late Latin pejoratus, past participle of pejorare to make or become worse, from Latin pejor worse; akin to Sanskrit padyate he falls, Latin ped-, pes foot -- more at FOOT
: having negative connotations; especially : tending to disparage or belittle " MW on line.

Uh, where does "Democrat" used as an adjective in "Democrat Party" meet those definitions?

[Norquist Nemesis]

132. Are we having fun yet?

Have fun playing your little game! :hi:

[rexcat]

133. I could not have made it any easier for you...

All you would have had to do is click on the links in my post. See the entry from Wikepedia below:

From Wikepedia: Democrat Party is a political epithet<1> used by some conservative commentators (as on talk radio) and in speeches and press releases by some Republican Party members to refer to the opposition Democratic Party. The term places an emphasis on the sound "rat" at the end of the word to imply a general criticism of the Democratic Party.<2> The term is meant to suggest that the Democratic Party is not "democratic" in its policies.<3> As a noun, "Democrat" describes a member of the Democratic party. <4> Many Democrats strongly dislike the term, and see it as a sign of disrespect.

--snip--

The term "Democrat Party" is not the official name of the party<17>; that the use of the noun "Democrat" as an adjective is generally seen as ungrammatical.<10><16> However, using a noun as a modifier is not grammatically incorrect in modern English. For example, a noun is used an adjective in "shoe store," "school bus," etc.; Americans commonly speak of "the Iraq war" rather than "the Iraqi war."<10>

The use of "Democrat" as an adjective could be part of a linguistic trend. As one linguist explained in the Christian Science Monitor:

We're losing our inflections – the special endings we use to distinguish between adjectives and nouns, for instance. There's a tendency to modify a noun with another noun rather than an adjective. Some may speak of "the Ukraine election" rather than "the Ukrainian election" or "the election in Ukraine," for instance. It's "the Iraq war" rather than "the Iraqi war," to give another example. <10>

From DU (again see my DU link in my original post): Moran - Moron, intentionally misspelled. From a freeper holding a sign with the word misspelled (see the link in my thread for the photograph of the freeper with the "Moran" sign).


My I suggest that you check your facts before you post. I am one of those "Democrats" that take offense at the term "Democrat Party."

[suston96]

134. Wikipedia?

Anyone can write up a Wikipedia entry. It is not an authority on anything but personal opinions.

Fact is that grammatical usage changes with time. Democratic Party is absolutely fine, except when spoken, you don't know if it is THE "Democratic Party" or A "democratic party" - two different meanings.

I prefer: Democrat Party - which means: the party of the Democrats. Nouns can sometimes be used as adjectives. You say: The Democrat victory was awesome. If you say: The Democratic victory was awesome, you cannot tell if you are saying: the victory by the Democrats or a victory that was democratic.

Way too much time and energy being spent with in-fighting among Democratics (sorry) while elections are still being stolen all over the country.

We have two years to work on killing as many machines as we can and changing over to a paper ballot, hand counted election system. That is where the sweat should be. Not on this.

[sakabatou]

117. Some days Tweety is good, and sometimes he's bad

Really hard to decide on him.

[stop the bleeding]

120. Ron Christie enough said n/t

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

128. It is not just Christie though. All of the Republicans including Bush do it,

including (especially) the RW media people.

It is a relatively new incivility towards Democrats. The usage itself may be old, but its use as a concerted strategy by the entire Republican machine is certainly new in my lifetime.

[Crankie Avalon]

123. Ron Christie? You mean Nixon's black lovechild?

"Dad?"

"Son???"

(Some other DUer--can't remeber who--pointed out the resemblance a while back on another thread)