[Ads-l] "a regular Bulgarian army" (1917)

[Peter Reitan]

It’s difficult to ascertain which sense of “regular” was used here, but there was a “regular Bulgarian Army” of professional soldiers, as well as other irregular, militia volunteer units.

Many years before the usage in question, there was a widely reported human interest news story about a volunteer local militia from a small Jewish village in Bulgaria that reportedly won accolades for fighting as well as the regular Bulgarian Army.

In the aftermath of WWI (several years after the usage in question), the Allies arranged to have the regular Bulgarian Army dismantled for the good of Europe, and replace it with a voluntary force with seven year contracts.

The regular Bulgarian Army was apparently deemed too professional, militaristic or dangerous to permit to continue in existence.  The usage at issue here seems to imply that the regular Bulgarian Army are ringers or more professional or skilled, and that the local athletes would never be noticed, perhaps in reference to the perceived or reputed fighting prowess of the professional Bulgarian Army.




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From: Ben Yagoda<mailto:byagoda at UDEL.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2022 7:22 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: "a regular Bulgarian army" (1917)

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Subject:      Re: "a regular Bulgarian army" (1917)
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The thing that strikes me about the sentence is the word =E2=80=9Cregular,=
=E2=80=9D which I wrote about here: =
https://web.archive.org/web/20181113231301/https:/www.chronicle.com/blogs/=
linguafranca/2018/11/13/in-which-i-make-like-a-regular-william-safire/

The OED defines this sense of =E2=80=9Cregular=E2=80=9D as "As an =
intensifier: complete, absolute, utter, veritable.=E2=80=9D In my view =
this is a bit inadequate. Complete, absolute, etc. are okay but =
=E2=80=9Cregular=E2=80=9D serves not so much as an intensifier as a =
simile-maker. And, at least in modern times, it=E2=80=99s usually ironic =
or humorous. So you could call someone =E2=80=9Ca regular Einstein=E2=80=9D=
 if they solved a couple of simple arithmetic problems, but hadn=E2=80=99t=
 shown much genius beyond that. (All the better if they put on airs.)

=E2=80=9CA regular [proper name]=E2=80=9D was in circulation well before =
1917. The novel Transmigration (1874) by Mortimer Collins (1874) has the =
line of dialogue, =E2=80=9CYou=E2=80=99re a regular Romeo.=E2=80=9D And =
an article in an 1858 edition of Young Men=E2=80=99s Magazine has =E2=80=9C=
=E2=80=A6 each one voting himself a regular Napoleon.=E2=80=9D

Ben

>=20
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>=20
> Date:    Fri, 19 Aug 2022 15:58:18 -0700
> From:    Nancy Friedman <wordworking at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: "a regular Bulgarian army" (1917)
>=20
> The volunteer archivist at the bay swimming and boating club I belong =
to
> has a question about a phrase she came across in a July 1917 club =
document:
>=20
> =E2=80=9COur athletes will be lost in the shuffle among a regular =
Bulgarian army of
> contestants, and their chances of showing or even getting mentioned in =
the
> papers are practically nix.=E2=80=9D
>=20
> Any ideas about what the phrase signified?
>=20
> Nancy Friedman
> @fritinancy
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>=20
> ------------------------------
>=20
> Date:    Fri, 19 Aug 2022 23:35:39 -0400
> From:    ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: "a regular Bulgarian army" (1917)
>=20
> Nancy Friedman wrote:
>> The volunteer archivist at the bay swimming and boating club I belong =
to
>> has a question about a phrase she came across in a July 1917 club =
document:
>>=20
>> =E2=80=9COur athletes will be lost in the shuffle among a regular =
Bulgarian army of
>> contestants, and their chances of showing or even getting mentioned =
in the
>> papers are practically nix.=E2=80=9D
>>=20
>> Any ideas about what the phrase signified?
>=20
> A search for =E2=80=9CBulgarian=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9CBulgaria=E2=80=9D =
at Green's Dictionary of Slang
> produced no matches.
>=20
> Wikipedia has an entry for =E2=80=9CFirst Balkan War=E2=80=9D which =
occurred several
> years before the 1917 date.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Balkan_War
>=20
> [Begin excerpt]
> The First Balkan War . . . lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and
> involved actions of the Balkan League (the Kingdoms of Bulgaria,
> Serbia, Greece and Montenegro) against the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan
> states' combined armies overcame the initially numerically inferior
> (significantly superior by the end of the conflict) and strategically
> disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success.
> [End excerpt]
>=20
> Wikipedia also has an entry for =E2=80=9CSecond Balkan War=E2=80=9D =
which also
> occurred a few years before the 1917 date.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Balkan_War
>=20
> [Begin excerpt]
> The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria,
> dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War,
> attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 16 (O.S.) / 29
> (N.S.) June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies repulsed the Bulgarian
> offensive and counter-attacked, entering Bulgaria.
> [End excerpt]
>=20
> Newspapers in this time period contained many articles about the
> Bulgarian army attacking and retreating. Perhaps the figure of speech,
> =E2=80=9Cregular Bulgarian army of Contestants=E2=80=9D, was inspired =
by news reports
> of the Balkan Wars.
>=20
> Garson
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>=20
> ------------------------------
>=20
> End of ADS-L Digest - 15 Aug 2022 to 19 Aug 2022 (#2022-204)
> ************************************************************


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