polling sample: "Democrat party" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Greg Pulliam]

No, it isn't circular. Committed, long-term Democrats (as opposed to
younger ones) know that some Republican hacks consistently use the
term Democrat Party to associate Democrats with rats and
bureaucrats--remember the use of red letters to spell the r-a-t-s of
bureaucrats (or Democrats, I don't remember which for sure) in a late
20th-century Republican presidential campaign commercial?

"Democrat" Party is also used to disassociate the party from the word
"democratic," which is an American ideograph equivalent to "liberty,"
"free speech," etc.  Note how different is the emotional effect of
the words "liberty" and "liberal."  Then compare "Democrat Party" and
"Democratic Party."

Greg


>Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
>Caveats: NONE
>
>Isn't this a bit circular?
>
>The only people who should be polled on the question "is "Democrat
>Party" an insult?" are Democrats, and unless you think "Democrat Party"
>is an insult, you aren't really a Democrat. . . .
>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: American Dialect Society
>>  [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of RonButters at AOL.COM
>>  Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 10:25 AM
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  Subject: polling sample: "Democrat party"
>>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       RonButters at AOL.COM
>>  Subject:      polling sample: "Democrat party"
>>  --------------------------------------------------------------
>>  -----------------
>>
>>  Of course it depends on what you mean by "Democrat," i.e.,
>>  what kind of survey methodology you use. If you poll all the
>>  delegates to the upcoming
>>  convention, you are surely wrong. If you poll all the
>>  Democrats   who have ever been
>>  elected to public office, you are surely wrong. If you poll
>>  all the Democrats who attended to all of the 2008 state
>>  conventions, you are surely wrong. Even if you poll all the
>>  Americans who are registered Democrats in their states, you
>>  are surely wrong. A true Democrat who has spent any time at
>>  all watching current events would surely know that "Democrat
>>  Party" is a deliberate insult used almost totally by
>>  political hacks playing childish morphological games.
>>
>>  Maybe if you poll a few 18-year-old Obama supporters at
>>  Central Florida University you might find some who are
>>  unaware of the status of the deletion of the {-ic} morpheme
>>  before the word "Party."
>>
>>  The point is this: anybody who considers herself a Democrat
>>  is not going to be receptive to a term that is a deliberate
>>  insult. It is common knowledge that "Democrat Party" is a
>>  derogatory usage. Ergo, ...
>>
>>
>>  In a message dated 6/2/08 8:01:46 AM, db.list at PMPKN.NET writes:
>>
>>
>>  > In any event, though, i still sincerely doubt that the vast
>>  majority
>>  > of Democrats actually care either way whether the party is
>>  called the
>>  > Democrat or the Democratic Party.
>>  >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  **************
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>>
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>>
>Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
>Caveats: NONE
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
-
Gregory J. Pulliam
Lewis Department of Humanities
218 Siegel Hall/3301 South Dearborn
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, IL   60616

312.567.7968 or 312.567.3465

pulliam at iit.edu
http://www.iit.edu/~gpulliam

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