12Sep September 11, 2006 – Pejorative

First, I know I have had to make a lot of double posts lately because I’ve skipped a day. So far, I’ve only missed single days. Unfortunately, on very short notice, my family must move by the end of the month, my father (MisterBixby Sr.) is in the hospital for tests, I’ve been trying to keep up with my obligations at the Super Fan Blog and I have been slammed at work (plus I’m a little under the weather). All told, not a good last coupla weeks.

Pejorative \pih-JOR-uh-tiv\, adjective:
1. Tending to make or become worse.
2. Tending to disparage or belittle.

noun:
1. A belittling or disparaging word or expression.

Citing the construction industry, car dealers, and politicians as the purveyors of “sprawl” (a pejorative term that does not even allow for the possibility of benefits associated with low-density development), Kunstler fails to consider the role of market forces.
— Julia Hansen, “letter to the editor”, The Atlantic, December 1996

While he said that he is not a “fanboy,” mildly pejorative slang for an aggressively obsessive “Star Wars” fan, he did mention that the John Williams “Star Wars” theme was played at his wedding reception two years ago.
— Michel Marriott, “On a Galaxy of Sites, ‘Star Wars’ Fever Rises”, New York Times, May 6, 1999

Welfare state is now, even for the Labour party whose grand historic achievement it was, obscurely shameful. A pejorative for our times.
— John Sutherland, “How the potent language of civic life was undermined”, The Guardian, March 20, 2001

Pejorative is derived from the past participle of Late Latin pejorare, “to make worse, to become worse,” from Latin pejor, “worse.”

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for pejorative

On top of all that, only two hits on today’s word. One is a depressing, arty and weird student-film-looking rant on Third World Debt. I couldn’t watch more than 15 seconds of it. That just isn’t how we roll here at Tube of the Day.

People doing dumb things, on the other hand – that is more our style.