[Ads-l] infantry (count noun)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Me too. It seems to mean "no holds barred."

JL

On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 8:40 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
> Speaking of misused military terms, I have noticed the upcoming election
> campaign described as "scorched earth".
> On May 17, 2016 8:14 AM, "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Maybe, but Kaufman is a professor of _literature_.
>
> JL
>
>
> On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 8:03 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>> Looks like a cut and paste error to me. The line may have originally read
> "by a Russian infantry unit," but when "unit" was cut, he forgot about the
> article.
>>
>> It's definitely an odd use of ambush, which is attack by laying in wait.
> You can't ambush a fixed position.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Jonathan Lighter
>> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2016 7:59 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: [ADS-L] infantry (count noun)
>>
>> OED has one ex., from 1605 - which it neglects to define or describe.
>>
>> 2014 Andrew D. Kaufman _Give War and Peace a Chance_  (N.Y.: Simon &
>> Schuster) 210  : A fortified French encampment being ambushed at dawn by
> a Russian infantry in the middle of war is not, and never will be, a magic
> kingdom.
>>
>> Prof. Kaufman is "an internationally recognized Russian literature
> scholar at the University of Virginia...[and] a featured Tolstoy expert at
> Oprah.com."
>>
>> P.S.: This use of _ambush_, v., isn't in OED at all. I confess I can't
> tell whether it sounds right or wrong: 'to attack by stealth, as under
> cover of darkness.'
>>
>> P.P.S.: OED also lacks the popular journalistic  "ambush interview" (GB:
> 1981).
>>
>> JL
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org