# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/142 "2020-09-19T17:47:49Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > It made sense as republicans form the Republican Party the democrats for the Democrat Party. That doesn’t even make sense. If the Democrat Party turned into the Democratic Party, then obviously the Republican Party started life as the Republic party. The reason it clearly works is that to a lot of Republicans, “Democrat” is the same as “devil worshipper”. You can’t really whip up the base by calling your opponent a “Republic”. ---
**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 19, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/143 "2020-09-19T17:56:22Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > If you said “a Dane author” instead of “a Danish author” people would infer that you meant to be insulting Wait, what? Dane is offensive? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/144 "2020-09-19T17:58:21Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > the affectation that no malice whatsoever is meant by saying “democrat party”-that it isn’t meant to be insulting at all. I’m not American, but I am liberal. If I ever moved there I’d probably vote Democrat. And as such let me say that I don’t see why it is insulting. It’s perfectly possible to say I am a Democrat, I vote Democrat, they are Democrats, and so on. So why would I find “Democrat Party” to be insulting? Inaccurate, maybe. I can see how someone could make the mistake innocently. But objecting would be like mocking someone for a spelling mistake. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/145 "2020-09-19T18:00:56Z")
**Peter** , it is a dog whistle, made knowingly and mockingly, and most certainly is NOT on par with a mere spelling mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/146 "2020-09-19T18:02:25Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I’m not American, but I am liberal. A lot of things American look different from the inside. Like the Statue of Liberty. It’s strange, because it’s only insulting because it’s _intended_ to be an insult. Like calling your friend David “Davy boy.” Right wing radio started this I believe, or at least pushed it relentlessly over the past 10 years or so. (it’s roots go further back, but it’s all the rage now). In this country you can immediately know all you need to know about someone when they use the terms “Democrat Party” or “Lame Steam Media.” ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/147 "2020-09-19T18:05:41Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > It’s perfectly possible to say I am a Democrat, I vote Democrat, they are Democrats, and so on. So why would I find “Democrat Party” to be insulting England used to be a country that formed a union with some other countries. This is why I now call it the Union Kingdom. Even though I’m told it’s not the real name, and the inhabitants of that place are annoyed by my idiosyncratic usage, I refuse to change. My naming is more logical and as an English speaker I have every right to call it the Union Kingdom if I please. Perhaps I can persuade everyone else to show them how mistaken they are. Perhaps they’ll even have to change their name to avoid confusion, which would be the funniest outcome of all. It’s a shame nobody gets humor anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/148 "2020-09-19T18:11:45Z")
Exactly, I’m British, and I certainly wouldn’t be insulted by the term “Union Kingdom.” I wouldn’t even be annoyed. It’s inaccurate, but not insulting. ---
**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 19, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/149 "2020-09-19T18:14:39Z")
Suppose it had been used for decades as a snide epithet by opponents of the UK – is there a possibility that you’d find it a bit obnoxious? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/150 "2020-09-19T18:20:49Z")
Suppose they keep trying to annoy me with the term, and I keep failing to care. ---
**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 19, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/151 "2020-09-19T18:22:03Z")
That’s your choice, but many others might find it obnoxious and ask them to use the proper terminology. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/152 "2020-09-19T20:18:06Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > (I am not arguing to ban every person who uses demeaning verbal constructions, just pointing out that “Democrat party” is grammatically insulting.) I’m not posting to comment on the thread, here. I just now noticed for the first time that you’re a newly-minted moderator, and I wanted to offer my congratulations. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/153 "2020-09-19T20:25:00Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > If you said “a Dane author” instead of “a Danish author” people would infer that you meant to be insulting > > Wait, what? Dane is offensive? It’s not offensive, _per se_, but it IS a noun, rather than an adjective, and as such is not the preferred modifier for “author.” When it IS so used, it creates the impression that the user intended to offend. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/154 "2020-09-19T21:24:14Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > (I am not arguing to ban every person who uses demeaning verbal constructions, just pointing out that “Democrat party” is grammatically insulting.) > > I’m not posting to comment on the thread, here. I just now noticed for the first time that you’re a newly-minted moderator, and I wanted to offer my congratulations. Thanks (I think. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/155 "2020-09-19T22:13:17Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Exactly, I’m British, and I certainly wouldn’t be insulted by the term “Union Kingdom.” I wouldn’t even be annoyed. It’s inaccurate, but not insulting. And if you politely informed me that wasn’t the name, which you know because you’re literally a native of that country, yet I made a point of continuing to do it, what would be your opinion of me? Not your feelings about the term, just your opinion about the sort of person who would be that deliberately obtuse after correction on a matter of elementary common knowledge. I know, I know, you’re definitely not bothered, because that would mean conceding a point. But you could honorably agree that it’s an asinine, needless, and childish display of defiance. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/156 "2020-09-19T22:20:21Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > (I am not arguing to ban every person who uses demeaning verbal constructions, just pointing out that “Democrat party” is grammatically insulting.) > > I’m not posting to comment on the thread, here. I just now noticed for the first time that you’re a newly-minted moderator, and I wanted to offer my congratulations. Or maybe condolences… ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/157 "2020-09-19T22:32:52Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > But you could honorably agree that it’s an asinine, needless, and childish display of defiance. See, I can agree with this… As I said earlier in the thread, the fact that somebody uses it tells me a lot about them. I just don’t understand why we are taking it as an insult. The term as it stands is not insulting, and the only power it has is being given by those who take it as such an insult. And some of the reaches in this thread just confuse me all the more… “The Democrat Party” literally means just “the party of the Democrats”. I mean, at one point the bugaboo was “the Democratic Party”, per Wiki: > In American history, many parties were named by their opponents: ([Federalists](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Party), [Loco-Focos](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locofocos), [Know Nothings](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing), [Populists](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populist_Party_(United_States)), [Dixiecrats](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixiecrat)), including the Democrats themselves, as the Federalists in the 1790s used _Democratic Party_ as a term of ridicule. Why give them the power over you? Why be insulted? I find BOTH sides of this (people trying to insult, those insulted) to be somewhat childish. This is just… Silly. I can’t think of a better way to describe it… it is silly. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/158 "2020-09-19T22:38:27Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > And if you politely informed me that wasn’t the name, which you know because you’re literally a native of that country, yet I made a point of continuing to do it, what would be your opinion of me? A hypothetical person doing that wouldn’t be important enough to be worth forming an opinion. > [@](#): > > I know, I know, you’re definitely not bothered, because that would mean conceding a point. Is that an example of trying to annoy me with an insult? Because it didn’t work. > [@](#): > > But you could honorably agree that it’s an asinine, needless, and childish display of defiance. Yes, I might consider it pathetic, if I thought of it at all, but it wouldn’t insult me. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/159 "2020-09-20T02:40:41Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > “The Democrat Party” literally means just “the party of the Democrats”. Returning to [puzzlegal’s post above](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/134)—would you tell her that “Jew poster” literally means “poster who is a Jew,” and it’s silly for her to object to 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 20, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/160 "2020-09-20T02:42:45Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > “The Democrat Party” literally means just “the party of the Democrats”. The Party of the Democrats has an official name. Why don’t you like to say it? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174/161 "2020-09-20T02:54:21Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > It’s not offensive, _per se_ , but it IS a noun, rather than an adjective, and as such is not the preferred modifier for “author.” When it IS so used, it creates the impression that the user intended to offend. Huh. That would literally never occur to me. I’m half-Serbian and use Serb and Serbian pretty interchangeably. I would never have an issue with “Serb author.” Probably because I think of Serb a bit as a tribal ID (or ethnicity if you prefer). You can say Serbians come from Serbia, but my family were in origin Serbs from Croatia, which is kind of its own thing. All pretty meaningless anyway as the only real difference between a Serb and a Croat is the choice of confession. I have a pretty similar take on Dane vs. Danish or Fin vs. Finnish or Swede vs. Swedish. One might be technically more correct grammatically. But in terms of offense it don’t make no never mind to me 🙂 . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-using-the-term-democrat-party-should-be-a-bannable-offense/920174.md?page=9)