THE SUFFIX POLICE ARE GETTING ANTSY (Democrat vs Democratic)

[MaineDem]

Our grammatical sensibilities are offended.

In press releases recently issued by the Maine Senate Republicans, the word "Democrat" has been used when the word "Democratic" should have been.

To wit:

- "There are six Democrat and four Republican members of this committee."

- "Democrat Controlled Rules Committee Opposes Borrowing Accountability"

We're wondering whether there's an adjective allergy going on in the Senate Republican office or whether new communications director Chris Cinquemani gets a tic in the face of the "ic" that's normally put at the end of the word "Democrat" when it's used to modify a noun that follows.

Or is the aversion something else?

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/columns/3531597.html

I once wrote to a reporter who used the noun in place of the adjective and got a smarmy reply. He said he'd turn it ove to his editor. Guess they finally got the message.

[Berry Cool]

1. "Democrat" makes sense in the second sentence

because there is no noun in it, so "Democrat" has to serve as the noun.

In the first, though, "members" is the noun, so the adjectives describing the party should be parallel: "Democratic" and "Republican."

on edit: More formally you could say that in the second sentence, "Democrat" functions as part of a compound adjective, but it is the noun component of a noun-verb construction being used as an adjective--like "fire-grilled chicken." The nouns used as names for members of the party are "Democrat" and "Republican," which don't look parallel, but are.

The trouble comes in when "Republics" try to take the noun and make it stand in for the adjective, thinking that by doing so, they are somehow making some point about Democrats being Democrats, but not being democratic.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Is it French-controlled Sector or France-controlled sector?

The first, obviously. The noun is "Committee." Everything that comes before modifies that noun (what kind of committee is it?).

[lligrd]

5. So When I Call Neocon Supporting Republics, Repukes

I am still okay, right?

[lligrd]

2. I Understand The Difference

and use it correctly myself (I hope) but I don't really understand what the hoopla is about. Of course, I still don't understand why someone wouldn't proudly call themselves a progressive and am bewildered as to why we use the terms left and right. (Perhaps, that is because I am left handed and therefore think that left is right.)

[LARED]

4. I've never been clear on why the fuss

Democrat means member of Democratic party. And democratic has multiple meanings so,

Changing the offending statement to;

"There are six Democratic and four Republican members of this committee."

is understood within the context of comparing the six to the four Republicans, but could be unclear if it said

"There are six Democratic members in attendance for the committee."

I just it just seems like a lot of fuss when using Democrat is understood.

[pacalo]

6. I've wondered that, too.

Maybe it's because the boy king's term is defined by Iraq & he's trying so hard to convince us that his main goal is to "spread freedom" & to make Iraq "democratic". Since the only time he uses the word in the correct sense is when he's talking about spreading freedom, I've concluded that the boy king, who likes to play dress-up & is now envisioning himself as Lincoln, doesn't want us to associate his term for freedom-spreading with the term for the Democratic Party, which has been in existence since the 1700's.

It amounts to word (dis)association between one concept the boy king is trying to promote & one concept that serves as a weed in his extreme neocon garden.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. There's a lot of fuss

because it's an intentional and deliberate insult on the part of the Republics. (I honestly wish that some Democrats would begin substituting the word "Republic" for the word "Republican".)

[ClassWarrior]

10. It's only an insult if you let it get to you...

...and if you do, you've granted the infantile Rape-Publicans the power. Just let 'em make themselves sound like fools and laugh at 'em.

NGU.

[Crunchy Frog]

14. I disagree. It's an insult however you cut it

and the people that it's mainly meant to affect are not the ones directly insulted by it, but the people who see the Dems being systematically insulted and belittled and not doing anything about it. It's main intent and affect, IMHO, is to make the Dems look weak and ineffectual to the general public. It demonstrates to people that the Republics have the upper hand, even to defining what our name is. Its main effect on me is to make me turn off whatever I'm watching or listening to, or discontinue reading, whenever it's being used.

If somebody calls you an asshole, and you just smile and ignore it, you're still being insulted, and people who witness it will know it.

That's just my opinion.

[ClassWarrior]

16. Yes, and the insulter is the one who looks like the asshole.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

NGU.

[AZBlue]

18. I have to agree. It seems like we're the ones driving the discussion about it,

not the GOP. We're the ones keeping it alive, not them. And the more we complain, the more they'll use it because they know it bothers us. If we ignored it, it would be gone next week.

[Trajan]

8. It's a stupid argument that detracts from real issues ...

It gives THEM something else to talk about while they go about the world slashing and burning everything in sight ...

I really dont care about the 'ic' ....

I care about the DEATH ; The THEFT ; The HUNGER ....

NOT the 'ic' ...

[EST]

9. "Democrat," used as an adjectival form, has a special

technical name. It's called a "hypocrisy lubricator."
It's most commonly used by ethically challenged types, in connection with a whine about "bi-partisanship" and why the democrats are so loathsome and don't have any.

It is a valuable word because it serves two purposes without working up a sweat-a good thing since word sweat is quite corrosive.

Its first duty is to gratify members of the greed and mental masturbation party by making them feel that they can secretly insult democrats and making themselves feel oh-so-clever.
It also allows the members of the above mentioned G&MM party to be deliberately nasty and insulting while pretending democrats are too dumb to notice and giving themselves cover should they be called on their slimy bullshit.

Wow! What a word!
For more pragmatic and cerebral democrats, this highly useful little word constantly informs that, no matter how sweet the siren song of the pubic hair publicans, like liquid mercury, they should not be embraced or even touched. They will never learn the art of real, honest compromise and the best thing for all concerned would be to force these mental midgets out of politics and back into their natural jobs such as stealing the last can of some little old widow's peas and becoming successful comics on a program of gender slurs, racist jokes, and producing commercials about dog food's being GOOD for you.

Example of clever greedy mental masturbator's alltime funny and clever joke: what's invisible and smells like dog food?
Little old peoples' farts ---haw haw haw haw.

[Evergreen Emerald]

11. Control of language is important--just look at the word "liberal"

It is an insult. It ia an attempt to control the language and redefine who I am by re-naming my party. What power and control they have to rename my party. Just like the word "liberal," which should be something to attain, they turned it into something to something ugly.

The republicans understand the importance of language. And have taken advantage of the fact that democrats don't get it, or minimize the importance of it.

I am deeply offended when someone in the press uses it--because they know the meaning behind it and the purpose of it.

[high density]

12. I've just started calling them Republics

It seems just as stupid.

[Eurobabe]

13. Start calling THEM RepubliCONS until they learn their grammar.

n/t

[Vinca]

15. I always email someone when I hear "Democrat" used as an

adjective because I believe our party is deserving of respect. I always send along this New Yorker article -
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/060807ta_talk_hertzberg

[Blue_In_AK]

17. As someone else has pointed out...

it's like the subtle difference between someone saying that a person is a "Jew doctor," for instance, versus a "Jewish doctor." The first one just sounds like an epithet.