[Ads-l] odd use of "civilian"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I've been familiar with this usage ('an outsider, from the perspective of a
group under discussion') for maybe forty years.

HDAS: 1946.

JL

On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 6:38 PM, Dave Hause <dwhause at cablemo.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Hause <dwhause at CABLEMO.NET>
> Subject:      Re: odd use of "civilian"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Odd" - sort of, to me, but not new.  My NOAD, 2nd ed., says roughly, 'not
> a
> member of military or police.'  My long term employment history went Army -
> police - Army and I think of civilian as only "not military."  But my usage
> sense for others is, "not one of us" however "us" is defined.
>
> Dave Hause, dwhause at cablemo.net
> Waynesville, MO
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James A. Landau
> Sent: Monday, November 2, 2015 8:14 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: odd use of "civilian"
>
> http://theweek.com/articles/572910/life-under-isis-caliphate
>
> <begin quote>
> Since ISIS poses a mortal threat to journalists — it has killed dozens of
> mostly local reporters, as well as its high-profile Western victims — the
> job of exposing the group's barbarity has fallen to civilians. In April
> 2014, a group of student activists set up Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered
> Silently inside the ISIS capital. Its two dozen or so members post written
> reports and videos — often filmed on mobile phones hidden in the sleeves of
> jackets — documenting daily life under ISIS control.
>
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