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

Sun Aug 21 13:34:37 UTC 2022

Lots of Bulgarians invaded. Lots of contestants are invading. I think
"veritable" makes the most sense here.

JL

On Sat, Aug 20, 2022 at 6:02 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
>
>
>
>
> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows
>
> 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)
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Yagoda <byagoda at UDEL.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "a regular Bulgarian army" (1917)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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/
> <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)
> > ************************************************************
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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