I think that the first time I consciously remember hearing it was in a comment by Bob Dole. It grated from the first time I heard it and I guess I wondered if Dole just misspoke. Then I heard it again and then again and it quickly became clear that big time dissing was underway. The "Democrat" Party.
Hendrik Hertzberg's "Talk of the Town" in the Aug 7 & 14 issue of
The New Yorker discusses this issue at length. Click here to read the article.
It's almost the perfect put down for the Republicans to use because it sounds like bad grammar which helps burnish their good ole boy credentials and exalts the ignorance to which they seem so fervently to aspire.
Hertzberg's article speaks to the pejorative use of the noun "democrat" in lieu of the adjective, "democratic." It's like saying, "You're NOT democratIC." By misspeaking the name it quickly transitions into a put down.
I find it grating, but it falls a few terabytes short of being devastating. Again, most of the negative impact reverts to the speaker because they simply sound ignorant and ill-spoken.
The one development that I would vigorously protest, would be if the butt-heads in the media adopted the usage, and started saying "Democrat" Party. The name "Democratic Party" has been around even longer than Republican Party and if any name changes are to be made, it should be up to the members of the DemocratIC party to make them.
How would the Republicans like it if Democrats started referring to them as Repugnants? The Repugnant Party. I'm sure that's how most of us feel anyway, but of course most of us are way too polite to start doing that.
At least it's good English.
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