[Ads-l] odd use of "civilian" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Laurence Horn]

Or it can be "anyone who wears civvies to work".

LH

> On Nov 3, 2015, at 1:50 PM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL> wrote:
> 
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> 
> 
>> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: odd use of "civilian"
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>>> On Nov 2, 2015, at 6:38 PM, Dave Hause <dwhause at CABLEMO.NET> wrote:
>>> =20
>>> "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.
>> 
> 
> I've seen it used to refer to astronauts who weren't part of NASA's astronaut corps, and I've seen it in conjuring journals to refer to someone who isn't a magician (either professional or hobbyist).
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
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