LANGUAGE CORNER
Democratic, as Adjective
No Taking Sides
Some of the Democrat ferment is positioning for the 2000 election," the analytical story said, and that was partisan (no doubt inadvertently so). "Democrat" as an adjective is relatively recent Republican coinage, designed to head off any subconscious inference that the opposition is truly "democratic." But that word is part of the party's official name, and using the shorter form — which even some Democratic politicians do in error on occasion — endorses a political position, however inadvertently.
