"Soldier"

[Bill Palmer]

The point can be conceded that the distinction between "soldier" and
"marine" is not clear to all, and I suppose it can be forgiven.

On the other hand, an AP photo I recently saw had a caption that
read...."The ashes of (the deceased former Navyman) were scattered at sea,
so he could join his fellow soldiers, lost with the USS Indianapolis".  This
seems (as one poster put it) bizarre and weird.  Yet it happens.

Bill Palmer

----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 11:10 AM
Subject: Re: "Soldier"


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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Soldier"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
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>>>  > 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
>>>  >
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