I half-consciously noted such a use on, I think, NPR a while back by an elected Democratic politician, but didn't even note who it was and have since caught a couple other uses where it was clearly neutral, either from the context or from knowing the politics of the speaker. Today, the decidedly left-leaning Raw Story uses it in a headline (using a screen capture since the actual link doesn't use that form):
There, on the right side of the second line, you can see. At the same time, today's Wisconsin State Journal — a Republican paper to be sure, but hardly the most knuckle-dragging operation around — has a headline:
Democrat choice is tough for someIs this a cropping that's losing it's sting?
5 comments:
I grew up in a strongly Republican household, and I never knew that the adjective "Democrat" was supposed to be an insult until I read about it on Language Log a while back.
In addition, in my mind "democratic" means "of democracy," not "of Democrats." So I'm sure there are others out there who use "Democrat" as an adjective and don't intend it as a barb. Of course, if a group of people prefers a certain term, it's more polite to respect their preferences.
Thanks. Yeah, cropping is so natural here that it's easy to see this development. With folks like Raw Story using it, I wonder if the tide is turning. Time will tell!
There is a difference, though, between "Democrat politician" and "Democrat choice". The latter is a choice between Democrats, just as "Democrat mediator" in this context means "mediator between Democrats", not a mediator who is a Democrat.
(Which is not to say, of course, that all who use the crop mean it as an insult.)
You know, I tried to get that difference and either still has the negative feel to it. That is, any preposed version of 'Democrat' sounds negative to me.
Yeah, it does to me, too. But I think there may be contexts in which it seems more correct to people looking for a noun.
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