"Soldier"

[Jonathan Lighter]

As I've observed before, it is only in the post-1918 era that a rigorous
distinction without exception has been insisted upon between the use of
"soldier" and "marine" - outside of the United States Marine Corps, that is,
where (presumably) the taboo is older.

The Marine Corps did not take kindly to having its forces in France placed
under Army command in World War I, and it long ago succeeded in outlawing
the soldier = marine usage among careful writers.  My impression, though, is
that most civilians still do not see much difference. ("Marines" to them
are generally just "soldiers" you "send in" first, esp. by water; it's kind
of a muddle.)

("Marine," of course, is not used as an overarching term to include
"soldier." The "synonymy" only goes one way.)

However, any extension of "soldier" to include "sailor" (and presumably
"airman") is new and bizarre.  Even "troops" applied  specifically to a
group of sailors at sea sounds weird.

JL

On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at bellsouth.net>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> Subject:      "Soldier"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> CBS news correspondent Bill Plante reported today that 4,250 "soldiers" =
> had died in Iraq, although many of them were US Marines along with a few =
> sailors & airmen.
>
> I read an article recently mentioning the 17 "soldiers" who had been =
> killed in the USS Cole bombing.
>
> There are many, many other recent examples.
>
> Is "soldier" now taken to mean any member of the armed forces, even =
> those who man ships? Or are we now so far into the all-volunteer force =
> (>35 years) that none of our journalists have any military experience =
> and don't know the proper terminology any more?
>
> Bill Palmer
>
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