# Republican is a slur? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 28, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292 "2016-08-28T15:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bubba001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f17d59/32.png) [@bubba001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubba001)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/1 "2016-08-28T15:58:16Z")
I recently ran into a young person who said " How very Republican of you" to someone they thought as being mean and selfish. Do you think this might become a thing? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/2 "2016-08-28T16:18:45Z")
It already is. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/3 "2016-08-28T19:29:33Z")
Sort of a quest for opinion. I’ll send it to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/4 "2016-08-28T19:36:07Z")
It’s about on par with the time “liberal” became a really filthy slur. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/5 "2016-08-28T20:44:31Z")
In the later real MASH books, Hawkeye and fellow Mainers used Democrat as a slur. So we’d just be catching up. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/6 "2016-08-28T23:20:41Z")
If I were called a Republican, I’d take it as an insult since I consider Republicans sellouts. But if I were called a conservative, even if it were intended as an insult, I’d take it as a compliment. Basically, I guess I’m saying that “slur” is in the mind of the beholder. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/7 "2016-08-29T00:07:48Z")
Actually I see both Republican and Democrat being used as a slur based on the situation and intent of the speaker. And sometimes they fit the purpose very well. But the same can be said for almost any descriptive/title. ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/8 "2016-08-29T02:47:16Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Actually I see both Republican and Democrat being used as a slur based on the situation and intent of the speaker. And sometimes they fit the purpose very well. But the same can be said for almost any descriptive/title. I agree. Someone once told me “well, you’re such a… a… a Liberal!” and not in a nice way. I often call my husband a Republican as a joke-insult, because he’s more of a capitalist than I am, but still very much leans democratic in his beliefs and voting history. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/9 "2016-08-29T03:57:58Z")
A slur? No. I reserve that term for words that are always (or nearly always) derogatory. Can it be used in a derogatory fashion? Of course. Anything can be. All it requires is that the speaker feels negatively towards that thing. “You, you, Dinglehoppers!!!” I’m sure there are circles where everyone thinks badly enough of Republicans that calling someone that is always bad. Others have mentioned how that happens with “liberal.” Doesn’t make that a slur, either. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/10 "2016-08-29T04:17:35Z")
> [@bubba001](#): > > I recently ran into a young person who said " How very Republican of you" to someone they thought as being mean and selfish. Do you think this might become a thing? Sort of like “that’s white of you.” Once a compliment, many would find it insulting… ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/11 "2016-08-29T15:30:57Z")
Some not very PC friends in Memphis refer to blacks as “democrats”. First time I ever heard that usage. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/12 "2016-08-29T23:27:19Z")
> [@bubba001](#): > > I recently ran into a young person who said " How very Republican of you" to someone they thought as being mean and selfish. Do you think this might become a thing? It’s a good slur in that usage because being mean and selfish isn’t \*specifically \*part of the official GOP platform. Just like calling someone a Democrat for being lazy and entitled would be offensive because that’s not officially part of the Democratic platform. Presumably calling someone a Democrat or a Republican because they support a strong social safety net or eliminating regulations, respectively, wouldn’t offend anyone but the most deluded Democrat or Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/13 "2016-08-30T08:44:45Z")
In terms of pop culture usage, yes, calling someone a Republican would more easily be considered a slur because pop culture is overwhelmingly defined by and relevant to youth. And if young adults express any political leanings it is most often Democrat-liberal than Republican (because young adults are inexperienced, naive, coddled, idiots). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/14 "2016-08-30T16:41:34Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > It’s a good slur in that usage because being mean and selfish isn’t \*specifically \*part of the official GOP platform. Just like calling someone a Democrat for being lazy and entitled would be offensive because that’s not officially part of the Democratic platform. > > Presumably calling someone a Democrat or a Republican because they support a strong social safety net or eliminating regulations, respectively, wouldn’t offend anyone but the most deluded Democrat or Republican. \*\*Democrat \*\*or \*\*Liberal \*\*is generally used to mean an effete, naively idealistic intellectual or the lazy, spoiled drug addled young people and no-account minorities who follow their ideology. \*\*Republican \*\*or \*\*Liberal \*\*is generally used to mean indifferent, elitist big-money interests or the angry racist blue collar religious fanatic hicks who follow their ideology. That’s why I register as an **Independent**. Because I can’t decide which “America” I hate more. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/15 "2016-08-30T16:52:53Z")
I’m a proud San Francisco liberal, but I’m well aware that the term is used far more frequently as an insult than as a compliment. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/16 "2016-08-30T18:21:40Z")
One of my good friends in high school used to joke about how the younger brother of a friend of his, while searching for a bad name to call someone when he was angry, came up with “Democrat”. That kid’s parents were _very_ Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/17 "2016-08-30T19:11:58Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > “You, you, Dinglehoppers!!!” Yeah, well [fork](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tzs1gncsHM) you too! ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-is-a-slur/764292/18 "2016-08-30T19:30:25Z")
I’m constantly telling my six year old that he’s a tiny Republican when he is unable to share with his brother and wants all the toys to himself even if he has no plans on using them at any point.