"Democrat party"

[David Bowie]

From:    LanDi Liu <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>
> On Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 12:52 AM, 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.  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.

> The syllable "lic" conforms to that according to your description,
> too.  You could give "lic" secondary stress if you wanted to.  Maybe
> what's really going on is that you can substitute "crat" with "crap",
> but "lic" doesn't get you anything beyond "lick", which is no match
> for "crap".

"Dick" doesn't count?

--
David Bowie                               University of Central Florida
     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.

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