semantic drift: squadron

[Jonathan Lighter]

Now it can mean  just what "platoon" and "company" can now mean, as I've
pointed out previously. I.e., a military unit of just about any size:

2000 http://www.longpauses.com/blog/2000/04/attack-1956.html (Apr. 20): *Paths
of Glory* tells of a failed attempt by a French squadron to take an
important German position during World War I.

Written "for a graduate seminar in Cold War military history." The movie
makes it very clear that the right word is "regiment."  "French troops" or
"French infantry" would have been perfectly acceptable and more readily
understandable but would lack that faux "precision" needed to make a writer
sound extra well informed.

A "squadron," moreover, requires horses or ships.  Unless, of course, you
don't care.  Should you?

Underlying some of these exx. of "drift" is the failure to consult a
dictionary. However, one only consults a dictionary when one is unsure...

JL


--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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