[Ads-l] More on "liberal"

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Fri Jan 2 22:20:31 UTC 2015


You are correct. I noticed the irony as well. Socialists and Communists
described themselves as "progressives," both as a euphemism and to
distinguish themselves from supposedly smug, feckless, and gullible
"liberals."

JL

JL

On Fri, Jan 2, 2015 at 5:05 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: More on "liberal"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> It's curious that "progressive" has become a more broadly acceptable word
> t=
> han "liberal."  I think a few decades ago "progressive" had Communist
> conno=
> tations and was a more loaded term than "liberal" was.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
> Jonath=
> an Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Friday, January 02, 2015 10:49 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: More on "liberal"
>
> According to historian Douglas Brinkley on CNN, "Most Democrats prefer to
> be called 'progressives' now, rather than 'liberals.'"
>
> So the demonization is poised to take final hold.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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