Dean's World

Words change over time. This is a universal in all languages. Despite the best efforts of teachers and grammarians everywhere, words change meaning. We can fight to retard or to shape this change, but we cannot stop it. For example, one of the English words I have noticed has changed its meaning is "troop."

Historically, it used to be that a group of cavalry was a "platoon," and a group of several platoons was a "troop," and a few troops made up a squadron or battalion. So if you sent two or three troops into a fight, you were sending a quite large number of men into battle.

But some time ago a slogan emerged of "support the troops." Now I do support the troops, but I have noticed that this slogan has apparently changed the definition of "troop." Increasingly, "a troop" is one single fighting man or woman. That individual is no longer even "a trooper," he or she is now just "a troop."

I notice that even retired Colonel Austin Bay has slipped into this usage. For example, in this recent excellent posting (which has nothing to do with this discussion but is nevertheless worth reading), Austin said:

Another one of the very smart troops says that should Pelosi-led investigations start in earnest, Rumsfeld is already two-months gone. A nice tactical political move, if the troop’s hunch is correct.

Oh really Colonel? A troop had a hunch? What, did someone take a poll? Did their commanding officer have anything to say? Were there any dissenters among the ranks?

;-)

This is meant to be humorous, and I hope Colonel Bay laughs. I think it just illustrates how words change their meaning over time even in military culture.

(link)

Dean Esmay:

I mean, you know, you could send a Marine troop in to storm a beach, but I'm thinking he might feel a little lonely and unprotected. Unless his name is John Rambo...

11.9.2006 12:53am

Stefan (mail):

Chesty Puller ain't far off.

11.9.2006 5:56am

Nicholas V. (mail) (www):

On a tangent: these days several "platoons" is called a "company", isn't it?

Perhaps that's the infantry term, and the cavalry term is a "troop"...

Although the modern-day version of the cavalry are the tankers and typically they use the term "company" for the level above "platoon" too these days...

11.9.2006 5:59am

Xrlq (mail) (www):

If the "Army of One" campaign continues long enough, maybe at some point we won't just call a soldier a troop; he'll be an entire army. At that point, there'll be an easy answer to the question "Oh yeah? You and what army?"

11.9.2006 6:56am

MaryJ:

That is very interesting the way troops are thought of. I liked this article because you are right about it. I also liked the linked article.

11.9.2006 7:16am

The Black Republican (mail) (www):

Xrlq, "Army of One" is done. Our "troops" are now:

ARMY STRONG

11.9.2006 7:58am

Dave Schuler (mail) (www):

Even in military culture? Especially in military culture. The language of the military is one of our main sources of neologisms.

Military language is an argot, its purpose is to distinguish between those in the know and those who aren't as is the speech of surfers, skateboarders, or criminal groups. Or computer programmers.

Since so many general officers these days have advanced degrees, there's a stiff infusion of academese (another argot), too.

New words, new uses for old words, misuses (like this) of old words. This one is an instance of a false singular (as “dynamic” is the singular of the already plural dynamics).

11.9.2006 8:01am

Army Strong? Hulk smash!

Better than "Army of One". What the hell was that supposed to mean, anyway?

11.9.2006 8:07am

Ronald Coleman (mail) (www):

I think individual soldiers have been called "troops" within the military for a while. I can think of more than one movie where a drill seargant screens at a recruit, "Say what [or whatever], troop!?"

11.9.2006 9:11am

Ken Hall (www):

Troop is cavalry-speak for company, more or less. Two or more troops make up a squadron.

"Troop" in this context is a contraction of "trooper," I think.

11.9.2006 9:18am

Linda Frazier (mail):

Same applies for State Troopers in this area. When they refer to each other, it's "I was with another troop, and we pulled over a red Beemer", or on an accident scene, someone will ask what officer is in charge (county, state or local PD), and someone will answer "The troop's got this one" and point toward the officer.

Not just a military thing, I guess.

Linda

11.9.2006 10:14am

Tim_the Soldier (mail):

Couple of things: we rarely, if ever, refer to ourselves in the Army as "troops." We are Soldiers. Specifically, I am an American Soldier. The word "Soldier" is always capitalized.

The Army of One slogan never really caught on with us Soldiers, but the meaning is/was that American Soldiers are trained, equipped and motivated with the skills to essentially be his/her own "Army." Meaning that the individual American Soldier is an important and powerful entity within a larger entity of the entire Army. Like I said, it never really caught on. "Army Strong" on the other hand, is the best slogan I've seen in the past 16 + years on active duty.

The Soldier's Creed:

I am an American Soldier.
I am a Warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States and
live the Army Values.

I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills. I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.

I am an expert and I am a professional.

I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.

I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.

I am an American Soldier.

11.9.2006 12:23pm

Historically you wouldn't call someone a troop, you'd call him a trooper. But the "contraction" (if that's what you call it) has been informally creeping in all over the place that I've noticed.

11.9.2006 12:31pm

Kunal Sawardekar (www):

>>Troop is cavalry-speak for company, more or less. Two or more troops make up a squadron.

Isnt a troop equivalent to an infantry platoon (and a squadron to an infantry company)?

11.9.2006 1:05pm

In Russian, "troop" means dead body or corpse. So it's unlikely that the "Support Our Troops" bumper sticker would be popular.

11.9.2006 1:06pm

Tim, it would be in Afghanistan!

Linda, state troopers are actually paramilitary organizations, which is a little strange if you think about it.

11.9.2006 2:26pm

I don't think so, Kunal. Work downward from regiment (the term common to both cavalry and infantry);

Infantry
Regiment
Battalion
Company
Platoon

Cavalry
Regiment
Squadron
Troop
Platoon (one presumes)

11.9.2006 2:54pm

Vern III (mail) (www):

Not to take away from the military aspect of this discussion, but since the title has "Evolution of Words":

Democrat vs Democratic - what's up with that? Someone's not a Democrat now, they're a Democratic. Or, it's a Democratic issue, not a Democrat issue. etc... It's gotten misused/transformed quite a bit lately. Did they change the party name at some point?

Here's a couple of links just for this site, but it's all over (btw, I'm not picking on anyone in particular, just questioning some usage. These were the first that came up via a search of the site):

Why I Left The Democratic Party (Rosemary)
Democratic Hari Kari? (Joe Gandelman)

I keep seeing it and am a bit puzzled. I thought it was the Democrats and Republicans, not the Democratics and Republicans; the Democrat Party and the Republican Party. So, is the Democrat party supposed to be promoting a Democratic form of government? I thought we had a republican form of government. When someone refers to the Democrats as the Democratics, are they referring to the party, or to the political process, or form of government? I now usually assume that they're referring to the party, but that word has many meanings.

It's easy to associate the democratic process to the Democrat party, especially when someone uses the word Democratic when referring to the party. However, they are two entirely different things. Most (not all) major political parties in the USA agree with having a democratic process vs a dictator telling everyone how to think / what to do / who to vote for.

I prefer to refer to the Democrats as just that: Democrats; not Democratics... Democratic as a process, not a political party.

Am I the only one who's confused?

11.9.2006 5:49pm

B. Durbin (www):

Well, it's usually democratic with a small d when it refers to the mode of government, and Democratic when it refers to, say, the Democratic leadership. I think it's used that way because Republican is an adjective as well as a noun, while Democrat is seen as only a noun. People hear "Republican Party" and hear it as "*this kind of* Party" instead of "the Party of *these people*". So they call it the Democratic Party instead of by its proper name.

Incidentally, the party did indeed go through several name changes. It started out as the Democratic Republicans, enjoyed a brief stint as the Republican Party (which will give a casual historian fits, since I think Andrew Jackson ran as a Republican, long before the current R Party existed in any form), and then went to its current name, the Democrat Party.

The opposition party was the Whigs for quite some time. That party disintegrated in the 1840s, and the new Republican Party formed from part of that and from part of the Democrats. Its original two platforms were anti-slavery and the transcontinental railroad. Those are actually more closely related than you may think; many of the slave states were against the railroad since they feared it would do horrible things to their economies as well as providing an easy escape route. Lincoln was only their second candidate for President, so it's obvious that there was a large base of support for the new party.

11.9.2006 8:11pm

Vern: It's way less confusing than you think. There's just a very mild political slur adding some confusion.

There is the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party.

A member of the Democratic Party is a Democrat. A member of the Republican Party is a Republican.

That's really all. The Democratic Party has Democrats as members, and the Republican Party has Republicans as members.

However, Republicans have a habit of using a minor slur: they sometimes refer to it as the Democrat Party. Because it sounds somehow less nice than the Democratic Party.

Pretty much only Republicans call it the Democrat Party. Actual Democrats and most other sources call it by its proper name, the Democratic Party.

11.9.2006 8:15pm

And by the way, the Democratic Party in its earliest days was known as the Democratic-Republican Party. They shortened it to just Democratic Party some time in the early to mid 19th Century.

Then, later on, when the Whig party collapsed in the 1850s, a new party calling itself the Republican Party got started. And that's where the two parties came from.

Since America at this point is both a democracy and a republic (by modern definitions of those words) then those names really at this point have little meaning. It's like someone calling themselves the Freedom Party, the Voter's Party, or the Liberty Party. Or the SDLKJFDSF Party, for that matter.

11.9.2006 8:26pm

Traditional echelons in the Army:

Army/Theater (Also known as Group Army) ie Eighth Army HQ in Seoul, ROK

Corps (usually comprised of two or more divisions)

Division: comprised of three or more brigade elements

Regiment/Brigade/Group: comprised of three or more battalions

Battalion: comprised of three or more companies

Companies: comprised of three or more platoons

Platoon: three or more squads

Squad: two teams

Team: 3-5 Soldiers

Individual Soldier: 1 individual ready to kill the bad guys!!!

11.9.2006 9:20pm

Hmm... OK, thanks. Those helped.

So, someone can be a Democrat, which is a member of the Democratic Party.
Someone can be a Republican, which a member of the Republican Party.
Someone can be a Libertarian, which is a member of the Libertarian Party.
Someone can be a Green, which a member of the Green Party.
Etc... Ad Nauseam.
All of those are pretty consistent, except the first.
How about a Politic, a member of the Political Party? Or, would it be a Political, a member of the Political Party?
Would a Law be a member of the Lawyer Party?

I just (finally) did a Google search (notice the proper form of the word Google? I think their lawyers would approve... heh heh) and found the following:

Democrat vs. Democratic

Is it the Democrat Party or the Democratic Party?

and from there:

Republicans, Democrats, and the Afghan on the couch

To describe the party on one side of the aisle, we have a proper noun for the people (Democrats) and a proper adjective (Democratic) to describe their party, their primary, their convention, etc. On the other side, we have the Republican Party, whose members are known as Republicans – a noun adapted from the adjective.

and from there:

Democrat (adj., n.), Democratic (adj.) - The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.

The proper noun is the name of a member of a major American political party; the adjective Democratic is used in its official name, the Democratic party. Democrat as an adjective is still sometimes used by some twentieth-century Republicans as a campaign tool but was used with particular virulence by the late senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, a Republican who sought by repeatedly calling it the Democrat party to deny it any possible benefit of the suggestion that it might also be democratic. Other nations also have political parties with the words Democrat and Democratic in their names. The uncapitalized words democrat and democratic have to do with believers in and supporters of government based on majority rule, the principles of equal rights, and the representative procedures developed to permit these principles to operate. Capitalize only the proper noun and the adjective when it refers to the Democratic party.

All of that (this?) -pretty much- coincides with what you both said.

Here's another link from one of the above sites:
Grammar by the numbers

11.9.2006 10:19pm