Query: Pejoratives for Liberals

[Frank Abate]

In my observation, there are compassionate liberals and compassionate
conservatives.  There are also hateful people on both sides.

The term "compassionate conservative" was created for political marketing
(by the Bush campaign, I believe), in an attempt to counter the connotations
that "conservative" has for many.

A dig at liberals from the conservative side is the expression, "the
L-word", in that the formula "[initial letter]-word" indicates that the word
avoided is a "dirty word".

Frank Abate

----- Original Message -----
From: <AAllan at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2000 1:46 PM
Subject: Re: Query: Pejoratives for Liberals


> Interesting observation -
>
> << euphemisms where compassionate conservative won out over other
selections,
> none critical of the looney left >>
>
> There's no question, it seems to me, that ADS members tend to be liberal
in
> their politics; and implausible euphemisms are generally discovered by ADS
> folk in the rhetoric of conservatives and Republicans rather than
elsewhere.
>
> I've noticed this more blatantly in the National Council of Teachers of
> English committee on public doublespeak, whose awards for misleading the
> public almost always are critical of conservative expressions, not liberal
> ones. Quite understandable if you believe truth resides among the liberals
> and duplicity among conservatives.
>
> No great harm, as long as we don't pretend we're neutral observers. And as
> long as we don't apply a political test to members; which we don't. After
> all, as Barry often reminds us, William Safire is an ADS member.
>
> - Allan Metcalf
>