"Soldier"

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:52 AM -0500 3/1/09, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Back in the old days, Marines were frequently referred to as "soldiers of
>the sea." For ex.:
>
>1878 Willard Glazier _Heroes of Three Wars_ (Phila.: Hubbard, 1880) 361: Six
>hundred ships garrisoned the coast of the United States, and fifty-one
>thousand soldiers of the sea garrisoned the ships.
>
>Whether a "soldier of the sea" is logically equivalent to a "soldier" is a
>question I'll leave to others.
>
>JL

Indeed.  It could be exocentric, like "Welsh rabbit", "prairie
oyster", or "Bronx cheer".  (Or, more to the point, "chicken of the
sea".)  Or it could be intersective, like "college instructor" or
"British novelist of the 20th century".  Or it could be one of those
where intuitions differ, like "processed cheese" or "phone sex".

LH

>
>On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Jonathan Lighter
><wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>  Subject:      Re: "Soldier"
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  "Soldiers," so far as I know, except in technical contexts.
>>
>>  JL
>>
>>  On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 8:33 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>
>>   > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  > -----------------------
>>  > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>  > Subject:      Re: "Soldier"
>>  >
>>  >
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >
>>  > At 2/27/2009 05:55 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>  > >   (I doubt that any American much cared whether they
>>  > >called foreign marines "soldiers" or not.)
>>  >
>>  > What did the American colonials call the English marines?  This may
>>  > go back to before the Revolution, to the 1740 War of Jenkins' Ear,
>>  > when Americans joined the British expedition in the Caribbean.
>>  >
>>  > Joel
>>  >
>>  > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>  >
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org