pejorative \pih-JOR-uh-tiv\ , adjective:
1. Tending to make or become worse.
2. Tending to disparage or belittle.
Although I've known this word for a long time (I remember it from a fifth grade spelling contest)and sometimes see people spell it with an "r" -perjorative-, the first time in recent memory I ever saw it was from my friend Barb when she and I were in a chat room talking about the name-calling that goes on in political forums.
I'm not so sure that pejorative wouldn't also be a noun, a name for this type of talk.
It doesn't matter what side of the aisle one sits, pejorative talk can be heard (or seen in on political msg. boards) being flung by either party, the most common jibes being "libtards" and "Rethugs". While an insult is an insult... pejorative...I wish people could at least be a little more clever with them. Calling someone a "Bush apologist" says volumes, yet keeps the crass slurs out of the argument. Giving a nod to popular culture AND slamming someone could be something like "You're an Obama fanboy".
JUST now on my headphones, as I ended the last sentence, I heard a caller to a popular political radio show compare the newest SC justice nominee as "from the Judge Judy school of law".
Now THAT'S clever pejorative.
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