Allow me to settle this "Democrat Party" thing...

[TreasonousBastard]

for once and for all.

I had wondered what all the fuss was about since I have heard the term used by some people, such as left-of-center BBC commentators and Democrats themselves, and I am convinced that it is gramatically more correct than "Democratic Party" since we're dealing with a proper noun, such has "Wilbur Fremichen" or "Labour Party." Proper nouns are normally comprised of several nouns, not modified nouns. But, that doesn't seem to be a hard and fast rule any more.

However, whether or not the grammar is correct, "Democratic Party" is what the party calls itself and has called itself since its split from the Democratic-Republican Party back in the 1800s. Might even be trademarked, but I haven't checked.

So, if that is its name, that's the name that should be used, and the Wiki article below (possibly put there by Media Matters from the curious redirection I got) seems to say it all. The use of "Democrat" has been a pejorative from the days of George Washington.

Like how "Liberal" is used as an insult, however, it seems to me that we have spent too much time whining about this rather than standing up and taking pride in being the "Democrat Party" and turning it back on them.



http://mediamatters.org/items/200608160005

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(phrase)

[crispini]

1. I prefer the Baucus approach

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x39221#40826

we start calling them the "Republic Party"
:rofl:

[C_U_L8R]

2. Scarborough called em Republics tonight

surprise surprise
typically i disliked the rw weasel but it's been interesting lately
as Joe has figured out how off-course the Republics have strayed.

[crispini]

4. Scarborough?!

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: That's interesting. Yes, some people are figuring out that getting us a zillion dollars in the hole doesn't exactly jibe with fiscal conservatism.

[C_U_L8R]

7. yeah scarborough !!!

it was playing in the background with the usual banter with Buchanan et al
and suddenly Joe references the Republic Party. That got my attention.
I think Joe is pretty fed up with those Republics. VERY FUNNY !!!

[fujiyama]

12. LOL

Maybe he's just getting lazy in saying that last syllable.

[Bitwit1234]

3. I'd rather be a democrat than a republiCON.

Cause they tell lies don't they.

[justiceischeap]

5. I don't care what they call us

As long as they're calling us winners in 2008.

[patricia92243]

6. Bingo!

[stranger]

8. who cares what they call us?

only an idiot would think this worth discussing.


as long we're winners in 2008-as the last post said.

[Ninja Jordan]

9. Sorry. I Care, and I want it stopped. The more the media draws attention to it, the better.

[athena]

10. Sorry, but for the grammar purists among us,

such a change is simply not acceptable. We were just as outraged when the American Physical Society considered changing its name to "The American Physics Society." The latter is not wrong, but the former is more traditional and sounds better.

From http://blogs.csmonitor.com/verbal_energy/2005/01/index.html:

I think we're losing our inflections – the special endings we use to distinguish between adjectives and nouns, for instance. There's a tendency to modify a noun with another noun rather than an adjective. Some may speak of "the Ukraine election" rather than "the Ukrainian election" or "the election in Ukraine," for instance. It's "the Iraq war" rather than the Iraqi war, to give another example. (Compare the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. If it were being fought today, we might be calling it the France-Prussia War.) Against this backdrop, "the Democrat Party" arguably sounds less like a McCarthyesque slur, although it still doesn't pass muster at professionally edited publications.

I also get annoyed when people say "The thing is is that" or misuse the expression, "to beg the question."

[TreasonousBastard]

13. I don't agree when it comes to proper nouins...

names are different.

Used to be someone was called Robin of Locksley, but now he'd be called Robin Locksley. Before all the changes we had companies called "The Dow Chemical Company," "Standard Oil Company."

Political parties, and corporations for that matter, have had words with the dual use as nouns and adjectives in them for years-- Green, Republican, Conservative, Libertarian, Progressive, Liberal... Who knows if anyone actually thought whether it was as a noun or adjective when they named the parties. It just sounded right to them and grammar be damned.

Just like Bull Moose, Right to Life, and Constitution sounded right to those party members.

I don't see "Democratic Party" being equivalent to "The Democrat's Party" or "The Party of Democratic Ideas" but just as a name that has been chosen. Like any other name.

(Just be thankful that we don't have to worry about those gender rules in grammar everyone in Europe deals with.)

[ReadTomPaine]

11. As your Wiki link touches on, it's literally a McCarthy phrase...

and I feel it's best to point that out rather strongly whenever it's said around Democrats. Most hardcore GOP types recoil from an association to McCarthy, even today.

Except of course, if you're a loon like Ann Coulter. Which works in the favor of the Democratic party anyway.

[KenHodson]

14. Have you been catching the term "Populist" being thrown around

with a dash of nastiness. I heard and read it applied it to Webb's response the other night and I know what is following: the word "POPULIST" will slither out of Rush's name as does "LIBERAL".
Since Republicans find themselves the minority after running the country into the ground, they will label Democrats as Populists. While anyone who gets the majority of the people's votes is by definition a "POPULIST", you will hear Rush associate the term to Marx, Hitler, etc.
I however, believe people are tired of this foolishness.

[TreasonousBastard]

20. "Populist" might just backfire on them...

since most people have no idea what the Populist Party was, or even that there was one (or there's another one around now) but it does ring of "we the people."

"Liberal" works for them because it brings up associations with socialism, communism, big government and all sorts of other things they've managed to pin it to. "Populist" makes you think "Hey, that's ME!"

(Except for the few geniuses out there who might associate it with the Pope, but nobody said we live in a perfect world.)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

15. Excellent, concise, and highly recommended

I had opened your post expecting to see something considerably less than what you in fact achieved.
I am a Democrat and always vote for the Democratic Party's candidate.

[blondeatlast]

16. Thank you, TB. To my thinking, you've managed to settle the issue. nt

[pampango]

17. It just occured to me today (I am always the last to figure these

things out.) Republicans belong to the Republican Party. Same word used as a noun and an adjective. Democrats belong to the Democratic Party. Different word for noun and adjective.

I was thinking that communists belong to the Communist Party, socialists to the Socialist Party, Liberals (in other countries) to the Liberal Party, etc. Is ours the only party where you can't use the noun as an adjective without being accused of being intellectually lazy or having a partisan motive?

[TreasonousBastard]

21. Well, as I mentioned above...

a proper noun is normally made up of nouns, but there doesn't seem to be any hard rule about it. You can call yourself or your organization anything you want to, and use any part of speech you like.

The Democratic Party just happens to have used an adjective that can't be confused with any other part of aspeech, like a noun, verb, gerund, participle, etc., and that's what it is. It could be considered possessive, but that's close enough to an adjective in this case.

So, there are people who are Democrats, but the party is, was, and shall be until it would want to change its name, the Democratic Party. Any other usage is simply as wrong as getting your name wrong.

One could possibly argue that we party members should be called "Democratics" but I think that's really pushing it and brings up more problems than it's worth. Sorry I brought it up.

[jenmito]

18. Colbert said "Democrat party" on Wednesday night's show...

I'm so glad he picked up on it and, as a pretend Repub., used it. :D

[sandnsea]

19. I'm a Democrat from the Democratic Party

Democrat Party is never ever correct. But sometimes the use of the word Democrat to describe individual Democrats is correct. The Democrat Senator, The Nevada Senator - same usage, both correct.