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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

Essay a demotic

What's a 'demotic' if used as a noun? Seems like some religious term:
" ‘You reckon?’ said the Archdeacon, essaying the demotic in response to Miss Tilley."
  

Top answer

’ said the Archdeacon, essaying the demotic in response to Miss Tilley. This is the adjective used as a pronoun (just as we use 'the rich' to refer to rich people). The deacon has used a demotic phrase.

— Mister Micawber

  • ’ said the Archdeacon, essaying the demotic in response to Miss Tilley.
  • This is the adjective used as a pronoun (just as we use 'the rich' to refer to rich people).
  • The deacon has used a demotic phrase.
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3 Answers
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Anonymous‘You reckon?’ said the Archdeacon, essaying the demotic in response to Miss Tilley.
This is the adjective used as a pronoun (just as we use 'the rich' to refer to rich people). The deacon has used a demotic phrase.
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Thank you Mister Micawber!

Can any arbitrary adjective be used like this? For example, could that deacon 'essay the archaic', or 'the vulgar' etc?
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Ideally, yes; practically, probably not.
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