"Soldier"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I once had occasion to tell a class of college students that the U.S. Marine
Corps is under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy and has no
connection with the U.S. Army.

Looks of mild amazement supplanted the usual looks of utter boredom.

Also, now that I think of it, Joel's "marine soldier" is undoubtedly the
immediate origin, through clipping, of the noun "marine."

By "technical contexts" I meant contexts where it was felt necessary to
distinguish carefully.

JL

On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 1:23 PM, Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at bellsouth.net>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "Soldier"
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>
> ah yes, the one who feeds his horse on corn & beans..."um des Rhymes
> Willen"
> no doubt.
>
> Bill
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alison Murie" <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 1:08 PM
> Subject: Re: "Soldier"
>
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> > Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: "Soldier"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > And then there's "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines"  whose brag rag
> > ends with "Though a captain in the Army."
> > AM
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mar 1, 2009, at 12:00 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> >
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> >> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> >> Subject:      Re: "Soldier"
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> I'm unclear what is a "technical context".  The word 'marine" goes
> >> back to 1672, of course (OED).  In American newspapers going back to
> >> 1704 (the first year of the first American newspaper) there are
> >> articles using the term taken from English newspapers.
> >>
> >> In 1706 Joseph Dudley, the governor of Massachusetts, issued "A
> >> PROCLAMATION, For the better Regulation of Seamen and
> >> Marines."  Boston News-Letter, 1706 Nov. 4, page 3.  [EAN]  This
> >> clearly originated in America, and distinguishes sailors from
> >> "soldiers" -- although it applies to the marines of the royal navy.
> >>
> >> On Nov. 15, 1739, the King said to Parliament "And as in the
> >> Prosecution of this War, a Number of Soldiers, to serve on board the
> >> Fleet, may be requisiste; I have judged it proper, that a Body of
> >> Marines should be raised."  Boston News-Letter, 1740 March 6, page
> >> 1.  [EAN]
> >>
> >> In the same issue of the BNL, page 2, a dispatch from London says
> >> "Two Thousand Five Hundred Marine Soldiers are to be raised for his
> >> Majesty's Service.
> >>
> >> Joel
> >>
> >> At 2/28/2009 02:59 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>> "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:
> >>>
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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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