While I am certainly not a member of the 'Grammar Police', I quietly burn inside when I witness the misuse of 'to/too' and 'lose/loose.' However, I never comment about it. It drives me crazy, but it's not worth the time.
Most of the grammatical errors I see on blogs or in comments are most likely the unintentional results of typing too quickly or not previewing, so I can live with them. Hell, this diary itself will probably contain a slew of those types of mistakes.
There is nevertheless ONE particular point regarding grammar that I just can't keep quiet about anymore. If you read the title of this diary you probably know what I'm talking about.
Let's jump!
The word 'democrat' is a noun.
dem·o·crat
noun ˈde-mə-ˌkrat\
Definition of DEMOCRAT
1
a : an adherent of democracy b : one who practices social equality
2
capitalized : a member of the Democratic party of the United States
See democrat defined for English-language learners »
See democrat defined for kids »
Examples of DEMOCRAT
First Known Use of DEMOCRAT
1789
The word 'democratic' is an adjective.
dem·o·crat·ic
adj ˌde-mə-ˈkra-tik\
Definition of DEMOCRATIC
1
: of, relating to, or favoring democracy
2
often capitalized : of or relating to one of the two major political parties in the United States evolving in the early 19th century from the anti-federalists and the Democratic-Republican party and associated in modern times with policies of broad social reform and internationalism
3
: relating to, appealing to, or available to the broad masses of the people
4
: favoring social equality : not snobbish
— dem·o·crat·i·cal·ly adverb
See democratic defined for English-language learners »
See democratic defined for kids »
Examples of DEMOCRATIC
Democratic elections were held there today for the first time.
the country's new democratic constitution
Debates are an important part of the democratic process.
The Democratic candidate for governor won the debate.
Most of these policies appeal to Democratic voters.
an interview with a leader of the Democratic Party
The organization works to promote democratic reforms around the world.
First Known Use of DEMOCRATIC
1602
I am sick and tired of how pervasive the use of 'democrat' to describe our Party has become. Apparently it's been going on for
years, but it got new life in 2006 when email from the Bush campaign contained some of the following gems:
The Democrat Party has a clear record when it comes to taxes.
And:
Nothing threatens our hard-won reforms and economic prosperity more than a Democrat victory this November.
And:
The difference is clear: if you want the government in your pocket, vote Democrat.
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/...
From the same
article, there is also this:
The history of “Democrat Party” is hard to pin down with any precision, though etymologists have traced its use to as far back as the Harding Administration. According to William Safire, it got a boost in 1940 from Harold Stassen, the Republican Convention keynoter that year, who used it to signify disapproval of such less than fully democratic Democratic machine bosses as Frank Hague of Jersey City and Tom Pendergast of Kansas City. Senator Joseph McCarthy made it a regular part of his arsenal of insults, which served to dampen its popularity for a while. There was another spike in 1976, when grumpy, growly Bob Dole denounced “Democrat wars” (those were the days!) in his Vice-Presidential debate with Walter Mondale. Growth has been steady for the last couple of decades, and today we find ourselves in a golden age of anti-“ic”-ism.
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/...
And of course none other than
Frank Luntz played a key role in making the use of this slur de rigueur for every
Republican't in the nation.
The job of politicians, however, is different, and among those of the Republican persuasion “Democrat Party” is now nearly universal. This is partly the work of Newt Gingrich, the nominal author of the notorious 1990 memo “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control,” and his Contract with America pollster, Frank Luntz, the Johnny Appleseed of such linguistic innovations as “death tax” for estate tax and “personal accounts” for Social Security privatization. Luntz, who road-tested the adjectival use of “Democrat” with a focus group in 2001, has concluded that the only people who really dislike it are highly partisan adherents of the—how you say?—Democratic Party. “Those two letters actually do matter,” Luntz said the other day. He added that he recently finished writing a book—it’s entitled “Words That Work”—and has been diligently going through the galley proofs taking out the hundreds of “ic”s that his copy editor, one of those partisan Dems, had stuck in.
We Are Taking Back Our Good Name!
Democrat Party was used, pardon the phrase, liberally by Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy. According to the Columbia Guide to Standard American English, "Democrat as an adjective is still sometimes used by some twentieth-century Republicans as a campaign tool but was used with particular virulence" by McCarthy, "who sought by repeatedly calling it the Democrat party to deny it any possible benefit of the suggestion that it might also be democratic."
This slur against the name of our Party has become so commonplace that it's begun to slip into common usage by everyone from 'impartial' reporters to average Americans who - I'll give them the benefit of the doubt - don't even
realize they're advancing right-wing propaganda.
It may seem like an insignificant point to some, but I sure hope to see a push-back against the roots of this derisive language.