civilian

[Michael Quinion]

> Arnold Zwicky wrote:

> i think if you look around you can find other extended uses of
> "civilian", to refer to a non-member of some specialized group.  i've
> heard it used by people in various academic fields (linguistics,
> physics, etc.) to refer anyone who's not a specialist in their field.

I've come across actors who refer to people outside the profession as
civilians. This seems reasonably well established.


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: wordseditor at worldwidewords.org
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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