[Ads-l] infantry (count noun)

[Dan Goncharoff]

I take it to mean that both candidates and their supporters and both
political parties will be seriously damaged, as if devastated by war.

DanG

On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 9:33 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

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

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