democrat as an adjective

[James A. Landau]

On Wed, Mar 10, 2004 at 05:50:11PM -0600, Dennis Baron wrote:
> As long as we're on the subject, when did Democrat start replacing
> Democratic as a proper adj?

My father was an editor on the Louisville KY _Courier-Journal_ back when it
was owned by the Bingham family.  In the terminology of the day, the
_Courier-Journal's_ editorial stance was "liberal Democratic".

Once when visiting my father's office (I can't date this citation except that
it was 1965 or before) I saw a memo from Mr. Bingham stating that the use of
"Democrat" as an adjective rather than "Democratic" was forbidden.  I vaguely
recall that the memo stated this practice was a deliberate attempt by
Republicans to be derogatory.

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For a politically offensive label, consider the word "lackey" which is so
stereotyped as Communist propaganda that it is a shock to read _The Three
Musketeers_ and find Planchet et al consistently referred to as "lackeys".

Aside to Larry Horn:  Anyone who refers to him/herself as a "knee-jerk
liberal" isn't.

        - James A. Landau