soldier = sailor

[Jonathan Lighter]

CNN seems to like "fighter," "trooper," and "troop," in roughly that order.
The latter are not (yet) applied to un-uniformed guerrillas or terrorists.
But come back in twenty years.

JL




On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Subject:      Re: soldier = sailor
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This is clearly why we need to adopt "warfighter".
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
>
> On Thu, Feb 04, 2010 at 11:37:14AM -0500, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > Weve already discussed whether or when marines are ever soldiers.  But
> the
> > following ex., obviously written by someone with professional-level
> > skills, shows that "soldier" now subsumes sailors too, at least for some
> > people:
> >
> >
> > 2007 _Moviefone_ [
> > http://insidemovies.moviefone.com/2007/03/07/feature-page-5-1-films/]:
> > German director Wolfgang Petersen's U-boat drama realistically captures
> the
> > claustrophobia and uncertainty of a fighter sub and portrays the German
> > soldiers as real people, not Aryan monsters.
> >
> >
> > Perhaps, as skeptics will chuckle, this is merely a slip. Maybe. But if
> so,
> > it is a bizarre slip IMO. The writer obviously knows what the movie is
> > about.
> >
> > Consider too the peculiar phrase "fighter sub." That supports the idea
> that
> > the writer is not very familiar with even everyday military/naval usage,
> at
> > least as little boys grew up learning it in the '50s.  I've heard Fox
> News
> > refer to all combat aircraft as "fighter planes."
> >
> > (If you don't understand my point, you may be proving it.)
> >
> > The explanation (if one is needed) may be that over the past couple of
> > decades, all members of the armed forces have come to be described in
> > journalism as "warriors" generally. (There are several reasons for this.)
> > But if "warrior" can subsume "sailor," why can't "soldier"?
> >
> > Inglish. Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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