civilian

Mon Apr 16 12:32:42 UTC 2012

OED includes "civilian" as "a person who is not a member of a specified
profession or group."

HDAS has "a layperson; a non-member of the speaker's group." Both offer a
1946 primary date. HDAS thought it slang in 1994, OED today does not.

Consider Pres. Obama's remark the other day (without "specification" as I
heard it) that Ann Romney shouldn't be criticized because "Ann Romney is a
civilian."

JL

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

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