Brigade (pejorative)
The word brigade, originally used to describe a military unit, can also be used as a pejorative collective noun to describe an informal group of like-minded individuals with views with which the speaker disagrees. It is used as a mild term of disapproval or contempt, or in an attempt to belittle and ridicule the subject.
For example, "PC brigade" is used to describe a supposed group of people who go around enforcing ridiculously politically correct rules.[1]
"Green welly brigade" refers in a deprecating way to well-heeled people who find their recreation in the countryside.[2]
The 'Hang 'em and flog 'em brigade' is often used in British Politics to describe the far right who support a 'Daily Mail' belief of capital punishment, corporal punishment and an end to fundamental human rights.
Similarly, blue rinse brigade, morality brigade, NIMBY brigade.[3]
The term may have had its origins in The Angry Brigade, a British anarchist group of the early 1970s.
[edit] References
- ^ http://5cc.blogspot.com/2007/06/brilliance-of-construct-of-pc-brigade.html The brilliance of the construct of the PC Brigade
- ^ http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Green%20Welly%20Brigade Urban Dictionary: Green Welly Brigade
- ^ http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-14-2002-24455.asp Suburban battle lines
[edit] See also
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