[Ads-l] Paul Revere Quote

W Brewer brewerwa at GMAIL.COM
Fri Apr 14 06:13:39 UTC 2017


JB:  <<The British troops in Boston were I think commonly referred to as
"regulars", perhaps because that term referred to the "standing army" that
the colonials were so antagonistic to, especially when imposed on their
soil.  >>
WB:  Once upon a time, US Army personnel were given a service number
consisting of letter-prefix followed by 8 numbers; RA standing for "Regular
Army". Draftees, on the other hand, were distinguished by a US prefix.
IIRC, National Guard (NG) and Reserve troops were also discriminated by
separate prefices. Later, SSAN was used, and I couldn't tell who was friend
or foe anymore.

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list