Friday, December 08, 2006

Democrat vs. Democratic

A few months ago, I noticed a flurry of lefty posts complaining about Republicans using the term "Democrat Party" to describe the Democratic Party. This post at Daily KOS explains why Democrats are so reluctant to use the term "Democrat" as an adjective.
The most natural phrase would be "Democratic primary" with a large 'D' to distinguish it from a primary that was run in a democratic manner. But many conservative Republicans say "Democrat party." It's almost a litmus test for right-wingedness. Listen to the Limbaughs and other liberal-haters, and they always say "Democrat party" and "Democrat politician" whereas more neutral people or moderate Republicans say the nicer-sounding and more natural "Democratic primary."

It makes me wonder if Democrats want to run away from the label "Democrat" like liberals have run away from the label "liberal" for years.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:03 PM

    The Kos kid said:

    The most natural phrase would be "Democratic primary" with a large 'D' to distinguish it from a primary that was run in a democratic manner.

    But he was talking about how Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh and a few other people he doesn't like speak. I don't know about him, but when people speak to me, they aren't closed-captioned, and I cannot see whether they have said "Democratic" or "democratic."

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  2. Anonymous2:36 PM

    "Democrat" is a noun. "Democratic Party" is an adjective. The people are Democrats, but the party is Democratic.

    "Democrat party" sounds wrong to me because it's using a noun as an adjective when there is a perfectly good adjective available.

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