# RESOLVED: Using the term "democrat party" should be a bannable offense **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 9, 2020, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174 "2020-09-09T14:50:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/41 "2020-09-09T23:52:38Z")
They should just get a gentle mod note, unless they repeat it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/42 "2020-09-10T00:00:21Z")
> [@TheCuse](#): > > I think both sides should cool it. Democrats here don’t like the term “Democrat Party,” and I’m sure Republicans don’t appreciate being called repukes or repukelicans The difference is that there aren’t any Democrats pretending that they don’t understand why anyone would be insulted by “repukes” or “repukelicans”, or insisting on using those terms in what are otherwise civil discussions. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/43 "2020-09-10T00:04:50Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Some people (not necessarily Dopers, but some other folks) also genuinely are mistaken. In the same way that Republicans are exactly derived (spelling-wise) from the Republican Party, they think Democrats are of the Democrat Party. The difference between Democrat and Democratic may not have occurred to them I’ve got to call bullshit on this one, because it usually comes from right-wingers who are criticizing the Democratic Party. If you can show me examples of people who have used the term in the manner you suggest that have corrected themselves after being told what the problem is, I would be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/44 "2020-09-10T00:41:54Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If you can show me examples of people who have used the term in the manner you suggest I may well have used it occasionally up until a few years ago, and I’m registered as a Democrat and half the time think the party’s too far to the right. I don’t remember exactly when I first found out it was being used as an insult, but I found out about it on a message board, and fairly recently. If I hadn’t been reading politics on message boards (or, I expect, on other social media, which I don’t much use), I still wouldn’t know. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/45 "2020-09-10T00:47:52Z")
Yes, I innocently remember the turmoil in Chicago in 1968 at the Democrat National Convention. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/46 "2020-09-10T04:26:22Z")
If you can’t correctly identify the two major American political parties by their correct names, properly spelled and capitalized, then you’ve told me everything I need to know about the value I should give to your opinions of political issues. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/47 "2020-09-10T04:36:12Z")
No, becuase you choose to be a Democrat or a Republican. I wish to reserve my right to call Nazis, skinheads, right wing militias, Anarchists and the like morons. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/48 "2020-09-10T04:38:03Z")
Nope, nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/49 "2020-09-10T04:54:04Z")
Way over in the [Stupid liberal idea of the day](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/7528) thread, there’s an ongoing discussion about the use of [this word](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/niggardly?s=t). It seems the sense of those posting there tends to support not using that word because of the false etymology ascribed to it. This thread’s linguistic issue does not strike me as all that important. The Democratic Party is composed of Democrats, just as the Republican Party is composed of Republicans. Plenty of people, it appears to me–both on- and off-line, are using the nominal “Democrat” to refer to both the party members and the party itself. So what? It’s a rather innocent mistake, unless, of course, someone has made it obvious they’re doing so to get an angry reaction to their use of the term. In case it’s not obvious, I’m agreeing with **DrDeth** here. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/50 "2020-09-10T05:19:40Z")
The mods around here can get rather capricious about what epithets they decide should be modded and which ones they ignore. I’ve been mod-noted repeatedly simply for referring to Trump’s Florida estate as “Mar-a-Loco”. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/51 "2020-09-10T05:40:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’ve got to call bullshit on this one, because it usually comes from right-wingers who are criticizing the Democratic Party. If you can show me examples of people who have used the term in the manner you suggest that have corrected themselves after being told what the problem is, I would be surprised. I’ve, literally, only heard anyone care one way or the other on this message board. Granted, I tend to avoid politics when I can, and I’m sure it’s a big thing on the internet, but I’ve never in my life heard someone talk about this IRL. I’m not saying people aren’t insulted, because they clearly are, I’m just saying I’ve only seen people get insulted online. Personally, I can never remember which one is the right one. Someone upthread my the comparison to repuke or repukicans. Let’s be honest. That clearly has the word ‘puke’ in it, just like libtard has the word (re)tard in it. I don’t see how democrat is in anyway comparable to that. From where I’m standing I see that more like calling someone Andi, even though they’ve asked you time and time again to call them Andrea. There’s nothing inherently offensive about it other than the person asking you not to say it. It’s not like they’re name is Christopher and you’re calling them ChrisFuckedHer where random people that heard it would be notice it (like repuke or libtard) and know it’s meant to insult. Referring to someone as a democrat seems about like referring to someone as a repubic. But, that’s me, but this doesn’t seem to be a widely known issue outside of those that spend a lot of time following politics. I think if you ask random people about it (left or right), the majority will never have heard that about it. ---
**Author:** ![WitnessMe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/witnessme/32/4597_2.png) [@WitnessMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WitnessMe)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/52 "2020-09-10T06:28:30Z")
Seems to me to just be an easy contraction. I’ve never heard anyone in meatspace take offense to it, it’s just silly. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/53 "2020-09-10T07:31:46Z")
I’ve gotten “noted” for saying “what the fuck” when at least one other poster has not nor has someone who posted “WTF”. Guess it depends on the mod. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/54 "2020-09-10T09:05:01Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’ve, literally, only heard anyone care one way or the other on this message board. Granted, I tend to avoid politics when I can, and I’m sure it’s a big thing on the internet, but I’ve never in my life heard someone talk about this IRL This is the only place you can find where this comes up…and yet, from the President on down there are a shit-ton of right wingers making it a point to use the term “Democrat Party” deliberately. Are you trying to convince us they are doing this over and over again just to annoy people on this little message board? Why would they go through all that trouble just for little ol’ us? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/55 "2020-09-10T10:35:32Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I say not a bannable thing, because it allows me to dismiss a poster without having to do a lot of useless reading of what they post. Same here. I’m not a big fan of the “attack via childish nicknames” thing - “ReTHUGlicans” has also long annoyed me. And the various Trump nicknames, well, whaddaya gonna do. But making this a bannable - or even notable - offense is just silly. I’m aware that it’s often being done deliberately to annoy Democrats (and pedants) but as trolling goes it barely registers on the meter. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/56 "2020-09-10T10:58:30Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > {…} as trolling goes it barely registers on the meter. {…} I didn’t know the mods used a trolling meter to detect trolling. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/57 "2020-09-10T12:29:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Are you trying to convince us they are doing this over and over again just to annoy people on this little message board? Why would they go through all that trouble just for little ol’ us? Assuming they’re delibritly doing it to insult (as opposed to just not knowing the difference) I think they’re probably offending a lot less people than they think they are. I think if it were more widely accepted as a derogatory term, you’d see the late night (liberal, Seth/Trevor/Steven) hosts making a big deal about it while Tucker/Judge Jeanine/Laura would be telling us we’re a bunch of drooling morons that shouldn’t be allowed to vote for taking such radical stance to a meaningless word, similar to how the OK/white power thing played out. Hell, I’m still not even clear about the terminology. Members of the democratic party are democrats, right? So why is it derogatory to refer to a group of democrats as a democratic party. And, I’m honestly asking, I really don’t understand it? Is it as simply as my example from upthread? Someone named Andrea asking people to stop calling her Andi and now she’s offended when people call her Andi, despite her requests to knock it off. Or, is there something inherently offensive that I’m missing? Something a random person that hasn’t heard about all this would notice, like saying libtard or re-puke-ican? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/58 "2020-09-10T12:57:56Z")
> [@Ynnad](#): > > Well, I sorta gathered that it must be offensive to somebody somewhere from the OP. Either that or it is some kind of inside joke. But i still don’t “get it.” How did it become a slur Republicans openly stated they wouldn’t call it the ‘Democratic’ party because it wasn’t democratic and didn’t represent democracy, that it was just a propaganda technique to convince people that the party that planned to take democracy away from people was calling itself ‘Democratic’. While doing this they knew that the main result and intent was to annoy Democrats and justify saying the intentionally misrepresented name of the party with a sneer. So it’s not in itself a slur, it’s a element of a smear campaign. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/59 "2020-09-10T14:02:21Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I think whatever the decision, the variants directed at the GOP should be given the same weight. > > What bugs me about the term is they want to pretend that it _isn’t_ meant to be offensive. When people use those other terms, they _know_ it’s offensive, that’s the whole point. Own it. > > It might not be _the_ most offensive thing in the world but like a previous thread pointed out, it would be almost exactly like knowing someone whose name was David but you persisted in calling him Dave despite the fact he’s made his preference to be called David known time and again. Dick move. I think I agree with all of this, especially the first part. If the aim of any rule change is to raise the level of conversation in forums like GD and PE, then I guess I’m fine with banning these silly epithets for political parties in those forums. But it should apply to all of them, not just Democrat. More generally, though, it has always seemed to me that the term “Democrat party” is one of those useful little flags that tells you just what sort of person you’re dealing with, and just how seriously to take their arguments. It’s a convenient shorthand that prevents me from wasting time engaging with someone who has nothing useful to say. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/60 "2020-09-10T14:32:46Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > > [@Joey\_P](#): > > > > I’ve, literally, only heard anyone care one way or the other on this message board. Granted, I tend to avoid politics when I can, and I’m sure it’s a big thing on the internet, but I’ve never in my life heard someone talk about this IRL > > This is the only place you can find where this comes up…and yet, from the President on down there are a shit-ton of right wingers making it a point to use the term “Democrat Party” deliberately. Are you trying to convince us they are doing this over and over again just to annoy people on this little message board? Why would they go through all that trouble just for little ol’ us? Joey\_P didn’t say only this one message board; they said “I’m sure it’s a big thing on the internet.” I’d expand that, or possibly limit it, to say ‘I’m sure it’s a big thing on social media’. Not only have I never heard it discussed IRL, I’ve never seen it mentioned on quite a variety of on-line news sites and other non-social-media sites; nor does it show up in my particular email. And I’ll repeat that I wouldn’t know that it’s a thing if it weren’t for message boards; though I think I probably ran into its being an issue first on snopes. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Republicans openly stated they wouldn’t call it the ‘Democratic’ party because it wasn’t democratic and didn’t represent democracy, that it was just a propaganda technique to convince people that the party that planned to take democracy away from people was calling itself ‘Democratic’. When and where? I must have missed the news reports on that one. > [@mhendo](#): > > it has always seemed to me that the term “Democrat party” is one of those useful little flags that tells you just what sort of person you’re dealing with I would take it in context with the rest of their posts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174.md?page=4)