still more on -er

[victor steinbok]

Just a list, (mostly) no comments:

lifer
candy-striper
bobby-soxer
GenXer
two-stater
anti-choicer/pro-lifer
pollster (not quite the same morphology--cf., e.g., prankster,
trickster, tipster)
cracker <-- many previous discussions on this one (not from v. "to crack"?)
gang-banger
deadender
copper (from "cop"--also possibly slightly different derivation, but maybe not!)
loner
?Prop8'er
?[tin]foil-hatter


BUT:
*Lefter/*Righter
*talk-shower
*anti-deather (but perhaps ok as an adjective, as in "anti-deather
protest", in the sence of "protest against deathers")
*dead-header (in favor of "deadhead")
*Busher (but "Bushie")

and oddities:

newser
presser
double-header (not from "header", which is from v. "to head")
no-brainer
footballer (no corresponding verb and *basketballer/*baseballer)

VS-)

On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 9:39 PM,  <RonButters at aol.com> wrote:
>> In a message dated 11/22/09 8:14:11 PM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:
>
>
>> "Christer" is interesting, since of course it does correspond to the
>> generalization, as do "Quaker", "Shaker", and "Holy Roller, all of
>> which at least originated as pejoratives.
>>
>
> CHRIST is a noun, the others are verbs. NEW DEAL and (arguably) AARP and
> ACLU are ideological positions.
>
> But these three counterexamples aside, if Larry's rule is just that -er is
> pejorative when applied to nouns that characterize political or religous
> convictions, then--again--(1) they are grammatically anomalous and hence more
> likely to be interpretable as ironic/sarcastic and (2) people are perjnaps
> more likely to make up odd names for things they don't approve of than things
> they do.
>
> And is it really true that Hell's Angels are not a social movement and that
> being a true Biker (whether pedalled or motored) is not a religion for the
> devoted?

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