I have an issue, a peeve, if you will, that I would like to place in the minds for thinking peoples for consideration.
We have, what I consider to be, a language problem here in the USA. That’s not to say that no other country might have this problem, but I don’t know another country like I do this one, so my address is to US.
We have such disregard, even disdain, for our language. We flagrantly misuse our words, discarding their true meaning, often to great effect, and treat them as fluid concepts open to any author’s desired intent.
Some actually laud this as poetic license or authorial freedom, but the effect on some, who know neither the intent nor often even the meaning of the words, can completely change or influence the minds of the exposed.
Consider this example:
If someone does something oafish, that does not necessarily mean that they are an oaf; however, if that same someone is an oaf, then it would be safe to state that anything they did could be oafish. An oaf does oafish things. Oafish things are not always done by oafs.
So, what is my issue? Words have meaning, not such as is capriciously applied by poet, author, or anarchistic, but as is codified in scholarly dictionaries (to exclude the many “urban”, etc dictionaries in use today). Words have the power to convey ideas, and to influence and educate, and also to misinform. We should use words for good, not evil.
It seems that decades ago a decision was made to change the thinking of the people of the USA. We began to be told exclusively about our “democracy”, not our representative republic. We were given many stories about “The Democratic Party”, not the Democrat Party. So it’s no wonder that folks today cry out against the electoral college, they have no idea that it is THE defining characteristic of our Republic, and the only way to have truly fair elections in a country so diverse and spread out as ours. And it is no wonder, when every talking head on TV and every politician of both parties continually misuse “democratic” when talking about things of the Democrat Party, that folks continue to vote for candidates of the Democrat Party, even when the entire party platform describes a government in total contradiction to the Constitution of the United States of America.
So…my true point at last. Can we please stop using” Democratic “ to describe persons, ideas, policies, and things associated with the Democrat Party? They are not Democratic Congressmen, not Democratic policies, Democratic Senators, they are Democrat…
Words make a difference. They influence the actions, understanding, and feelings of people, and their misuse, whether insidious or capricious, affect this nation of people to the point of division and chaos.