"Democrat party"

[Mark Mandel]

On Sun, Jun 1, 2008 at 12:52 PM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> There's a considerable difference between "Democrat Party" and
> "Republic Party."  "Democrat" has a final stressed syllable and
> "Republic" doesn't.

Beg pardon? /'dEm at kraet/ has primary stress on the first syllable,
only secondary or tertiary on the last -- using "tertiary" as the
lowest level that a tense vowel like /ae/ can have. Not a stressed
syllable.

Now, if the /f^ks/ bozos (et ceteri) pronounce it /,dEm@'kraet/, I
have to agree with your conclusion.

>  The syllable "crat" conforms to the phonotactics
> of English taboo vocabulary: short vowel and final voiceless consonant
> usually a stop, which turns "Democrat" into an epithet in a way that
> can't be done with "Republic."  Among Republican political consultants
> it's been a routine form of name-calling for decades.
>
> Herb

--
Mark Mandel

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