2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I know DU is Bernie Country, but in response to an earlier thread about Rachel's Interview of HRC [View all]Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)wield an object, usually a weapon, in a threatening manner. To take on a label is to brand one's self, the past tense of which is 'branded'. Considering current events, it is worth noting that this is language adopted from the cattle industry practice of 'branding cattle' for identification among free grazing herds. But I digress.
I offer this because it is far better when touting one's understanding of the meaning of words to do so by using words which actually mean the right things. Brandished is a word, it's just not the right one, and that lets us know that you know the word but not the meaning of the word, this is exactly the opposite of the point you are trying to make, that when you use the word 'socialist' you know what it means. Your own misuse of the language gives me good reason to doubt that you actually do know what the word 'socialist' means. See what I mean?