[iLikebeer]

Hope, AZ.
Land of scholars...
I laugh every time I see this sign on the drive to and from Cali. This is a little town called Hope, AZ. The sign has been there for ages. I finally remembered to have my camera ready last weekend.

[Doofy]

We know a song about that, don't we children?

Originally Posted by AC/DC

Burnin' alive, set my soul on fire
Runnin' with a gun, this place is gonna burn
No firewater, or novacaine
No thunderstorm, no John Wayne
No kids to rock, nowhere to run
So watch out 'cause this place is gonna burn

Burnin' alive, Burnin' alive
Burnin' alive, Burnin' alive

They be smokin' your hide, come runnin' wild
Tell you nothin' to fear, cause the buck stops here!
He came from a little town called Hope
And someday, maybe, it'll go up in smoke

[osiris]

I'm sure a large percentage of abusers are residing in that docile land of the grammar-free.

[mattyb]

Nazis has a capital 'N'.

[zombie punk]

Originally Posted by mattyb 

Nazis has a capital 'N'.

Only when it is being used as a noun, surely?

[Kerrigan]

Terror-Führer

[CharlesS]

La Resistance grammaticale?

[EricTheRed]

You're.

I must now find a bridge to jump off.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by zombie punk 

Only when it is being used as a noun, surely?

No, always.

(I’m not nearly self-loathing enough—despite being Danish—to hate grammar Nazis.)

[Jawbone54]

Seriusly
Pitifull
Youre
To bad
Supposebly

Have fun.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

We know a song about that, don't we children?

Actually, I believe they're talking about this man...

 

[wallinbl]

Originally Posted by zombie punk 

Only when it is being used as a noun, surely?

It is being used as a noun.

[Chuckit]

I would argue that small-N "nazi" is acceptable when not talking about a proper political Nazi but rather somebody who is overly strict on a particular matter (much like the difference between a small-D democrat and somebody who subscribes to the ideals of the Democratic Party). I've got no authoritative source to back me up, but it seems cognate.

[Jawbone54]

I've always wondered about the small-D democrat problem. Why is that so offensive?

[Chuckit]

Hm? The "small-D democrat problem"?

[Randman]

Soup nazi. I think that would work without getting fussed by it not being Soup Nazi.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

I would argue that small-N "nazi" is acceptable when not talking about a proper political Nazi but rather somebody who is overly strict on a particular matter (much like the difference between a small-D democrat and somebody who subscribes to the ideals of the Democratic Party). I've got no authoritative source to back me up, but it seems cognate.

I’d say the difference is that democrats (with small d’s) existed before the Democratic Party; the capital d variant came into being subsequent to the original word and represents a narrowing (some would argue a complete change, I’m sure) of the original meaning.

With ‘Nazi’, the word did not exist prior to the capitalised form, and this subsequent usage represents a broadening of the meaning of the original (capitalised) word. Once the word ‘Nazi’ in such combinations as ‘grammar Nazi’, with this broadened meaning, becomes common enough to be entered into common-language dictionaries, though, I’m sure it will be uncapitalised the same way ‘china’ (as in porcelain) was.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Hm? The "small-D democrat problem"?

I've always heard that Democrats get a massive melvin over being called "democrats," especially on Internet forums.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

I've always heard that Democrats get a massive melvin over being called "democrats," especially on Internet forums.

I wonder if that’s only true of the Democrats who are not, in fact, democrats.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

I've always heard that Democrats get a massive melvin over being called "democrats," especially on Internet forums.

Well, they don't mean the same thing. A Democrat is somebody who belongs to the Democratic Party, whereas a democrat is somebody who supports or participates in democracy. So actually, Republicans are democrats as well.

[Jawbone54]

Yeah, I understand the difference, but I'm still not entirely sure why it's so horribly offensive.

I guess it's grammar Nazism for normal people (not forum-dwellers).