Yes, I believe in the military one soldier is indeed considered one troop. It's only civilians who use "troop" to mean "a lot". Come to think of it, maybe it's only civilians who use the term "a troop of soldiers".
(Of course, I may be wrong. It's already June; I'm ahead of my quota, so I can afford another error this month before I have to start worrying.) LOL, I once accidentally left a book at church. I was pretty sure I knew where I'd left it, so I just planned on picking it up the next time I was in that hallway. But a friend returned it to me first. I usually put my name in my books, but I hadn't gotten around to doing it in this one yet. It was a book that a number of us were using for study - so how (I asked) did he know this one was mine? "Well, I wasn't sure", he said. "But I noticed on page 37 someone had crossed out 'criteria' and written in 'criterion'...". My sister loves that story. --- Bob Bridges, [email protected], cell 336 382-7313 /* It has been decreed, somewhere or other, that the sexes are not only equal but barely distinguishable, so that any differences between them are due to untold centuries of male domination. Of course the very fact that men have dominated women so utterly throughout recorded history might be considered prima facie evidence of male superiority.... -Joseph Sobran */ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Paul Gilmartin Sent: Tuesday, June 7, 2022 23:48 A commentator once wondered, "If '1000 troops' means 1000 soldiers, is one soldier a 'troop'?" My pet peeves have long included "media is" and "data is". And, more recently, by professionals who should know better, "bacteria is". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
