[meragrin_]

> I’m not trying to wage a war here.

You are literally calling the Democratic Party's extensive use of Democrats over Democratic <whatever> a rhetorical war by the GOP. Sounds like you are trying to wage a war here to me.

> Taking a step back: when someone corrects me on a terminology mistake

Here's the problem. You did not just stop at correcting their mistake. You stated "Democrat Party" is part of a rhetorical war by the GOP. You were trying to shame someone and slander another party for the Democratic Party's own use of Democrats as the primary means of identification. The GOP is not making the Democratic Party go around referring to their members as Democrats. It certainly is not preventing Democrats from using Democratic <whatever> in their communications which the average person is exposed to.

[js2]

There is a rhetorical war by the GOP which is to misuse Democrat as an adjective instead of Democratic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet)

When I see someone misuse the word, I cannot know if it was a harmless mistake, or whether they are intentionally engaging in the war, but I assume it was a harmless mistake.

At no point have I accused anyone in this thread of malfeasance. I have not attempted to shame anyone. I simply let jwond know that they had used the wrong word, and as a courtesy, I let them know of the on-going rhetorical war.

Again, if I misused a word, I'd want to know. If my misuse was often used as insult (even if by others but not by me), I'd especially want to know.

This is no longer a productive conversation, so this is my final reply.