[Ads-l] troops

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Very condescending" is about right, but it can/could also be mildly
humorous:

1948 Robert Lowry in _Cross Section_ IV 97 [ref. to WWII]: "You look like a
real combat troop, _amico_," Joe said.

1958 Rutherford Montgomery & Grover Heiman _Jet Navigator_ (Dodd, Mead,
1959) 94: This troop looks shook, Skin.

JL

On Sun, Sep 18, 2016 at 4:55 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:

> JL:  << Most early HDAS exx.of single-soldier "troop" are, as Wilson
> suggests,
> mainly in direct address from a superior to one of lowly rank. >>
> WB:  As far as I can recall, I have only heard/used it, with any frequency
> at all, in the expression, "At ease, troop!" in a very condescending,
> derisive tone. Collective <troop (of)> strikes me as downright literary,
> like an "Exaltation of Larks". (Jist got a hankerin' fer some orange
> pekoe.)
>
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>



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