Staff = employee

[Dan Goncharoff]

So what was your problem with the use of the word "staff" in the Wiki you
linked to? Enumeration?
DanG


On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 5:30 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Staff = employee
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My issue with staff is that it is (or was) always used to refer to a group
> of people, not individuals.
>
> No problem with staff members being volunteer, employees, officers, etc.
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA
>
> On Nov 8, 2011, at 2:10 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>
> > I don't get your point. Do you think "staff" is an illegitimate word? I
> > have always distinguished between employees and staff. For example, I
> help
> > out a non-profit (is that in OED as a noun) with no employees, but plenty
> > of staff, all volunteers.
> > DanG
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 5:02 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com
> >wrote:
> >
> >> I have fought many battles with Japanese clients who want to talk about
> =
> >> their "staffs" (employees) as "sutafu" is a common Japanese word.
> AFAIK, =
> >> I have always won, but it is a losing battle.
> >>
> >> Today, Jimmy Wales' Wiki statement has the following =
> >> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:2011Appeal1):
> >>
> >> -----
> >> Google might have close to a million servers. Yahoo has something like =
> >> 13,000 staff. We have 400 servers and 73 staff.
> >> -----
> >>
> >> Benjamin Barrett
> >> Seattle, WA=
>
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>

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