American Army or American army?

[Roadkill101]

I response to Clashmore Dave's reference to sub-divisions being called armies. Yes there are sub units of the US Army refered to as an army, though in my experience they were refered to as a Corp. Unless things have greatly changed when i was in the Army back in '91, the US Army divided itself into the following units (smallest to largest): Firing Team, Squad, Platoon, Company (some US Cavalry units use the term Troop here), Battalion (some US Cav units use the term Squadron here), Brigade (some US Cav units use the term Regiment here), Division and finally Corp. It generally takes a minimal of two or more of a smaller unit to make up the next larger sized unit to the best of my knowledge, thus not all units of the same name are necessarily equal in manpower.

 

[Hypersmurf]

And, just for completeness - the place where your government sits is a capitol building.

Generally to be found in the capital

-Hyp.

 

[Dirigible]

Generally to be found in the capital

That's great. In fact, it's captial!

Also, just as an asides, it is now proper to capitalize the terms Soldier, Sailor, Marine and Airman (men). The Department of Defense memo to the AP wire stated that when these terms are used in deference to US forces you should capitalize.

As far as I'm concerned, this is doubleplusgood.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's always been this way.

 

[Samnell]

Not to comment on the DoD's opinions of grammar, the convention is that when these terms are used as a title, a capital letter is the thing to do. So "Is that a pledge pin on your uniform, Soldier?" is correct. Soldier is a formal title like Doctor, Nurse, or Judge.

When referring to a group of them, the convention is not to capitalize. So "The soldiers liberated the concentration camp".

EDIT: At least in American usage. Commonwealth English may feel differently.

 

[Krieg]

I don't think whatever propoganda the DoD is working on with this should be supported, anyway.

Opinions carry more weight when there is thought involved.

There's no secret propoganda ploy going on here, it's just the DoD's way of saying that folks doing a hard job deserve a bit of respect.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's always been this way.

As mentioned before Marine has always been capitalized while the other branches have always begun sailor, soldier & airman in lower case.

I know in the past the matter has been a cause of some friction with the Army who generally doesn't like things that Marines do which differentiate them from soldiers (ie wearing leggings up till the Korean War or not wearing name tapes until the early 90's).

 

[Piratecat]

Opinions carry more weight when there is thought involved.

There's no secret propoganda ploy going on here, it's just the DoD's way of saying that folks doing a hard job deserve a bit of respect.

Even if you disagree with them, always best not to insult people, please! It's fine to disagree with someone's opinion, but claiming that they haven't thought it through comes across as rude.

 

[Piratecat]

On topic, I personally think that following the usage of proper grammar is absolutely independent of showing respect to an institution. It's grammatically improper to capitalize something like 'soldiers' that isn't a proper noun. This effort comes across to me as noble but misguided, and - like any deliberate misspelling - drives me nuts. Yeah, I know I need to get out more, but if I makes you feel any better I also dislike "Koffee Kup" or "Pethingz!" and other stylistic choices. I have more tolerance for a brand name, though, than I do for an attempt to change grammar rules.

Interestingly enough, I've always thought of Marines as belonging to that one specific branch. I've always thought of soldiers as possibly belonging to the Army, or the National Guard, or to a guerrilla troop. . . just as I've thought of sailor as applying to the Coast Guard, the Navy, the Merchant Marine, and really anyone who makes his living on the sea. I suspect that's why Marine gets capitalized and the others don't.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Yeah, I know I need to get out more, but if I makes you feel any better I also dislike "Koffee Kup" or "Pethingz!" and other stylistic choices.

How about "Piratecat" instead of "Pirate Cat"?

 

[Piratecat]

Well, I'll definitely give "Pyratekat" a miss.

 

[Hypersmurf]

On topic, I personally think that following the usage of proper grammar is absolutely independent of showing respect to an institution. It's grammatically improper to capitalize something like 'soldiers' that isn't a proper noun.

How do you feel about usernames that aren't capitalised? hong, swrushing, irdeggman, shilsen? What if they're the first word in a sentence?

-Hyp.