# Meaning of the word "troop" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424 "2010-05-14T13:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424/21 "2010-05-17T12:45:31Z")
I agree with everyone here. Also I don’t think this usage is always mere sloppiness. The military uses it because it is more impersonal. Compare “10,000 troops were sent to Afghanistan” vs. “10,000 soldiers were sent to Afghanistan.” The latter brings up a vision of thousands of people, and the former (for me) does not. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424/22 "2010-05-17T12:59:43Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Should be “an additional force of 10,000…” > > Alas, a once-great language… :mad: Especially as “force” is a perfectly useful military word referring to a group of soldiers of any size whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424/23 "2010-05-18T15:48:22Z")
I’ll just add my two pennorth, Troop as in a military unit is not confined exclusively to cavalry formations( in the British Army ) but is also a (small) formation in U.K. Special Forces amongst other things. ---
**Author:** ![JerseyMarine2092](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@JerseyMarine2092](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyMarine2092)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424/24 "2010-05-18T15:58:32Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > I agree with everyone here. Also I don’t think this usage is always mere sloppiness. The military uses it because it is more impersonal. Compare “10,000 troops were sent to Afghanistan” vs. “10,000 soldiers were sent to Afghanistan.” The latter brings up a vision of thousands of people, and the former (for me) does not. Uh. Right. Or that’s one of the words that soldiers or Marines will use to describe themselves, eg “troop welfare.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424/25 "2010-05-18T17:23:02Z")
C’mon, peeps. It’s short for “trooper”, which has been used for a very long time. While it’s probably a bastardization of the French word _troupe_ (an acting company), it’s a legitimate English word. One man is a trooper and a group of soldiers is a troop (or troupe). ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424/26 "2010-05-18T17:38:27Z")
Well, given that they’re all supposed to be “an army of one” now, we’re lucky we don’t here about “30,000 armies” being sent somewhere. ETA: Yes, I’m aware they don’t use that slogan any more. It’s a joke. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424/27 "2010-05-18T17:43:04Z")
> [@](#): > > One man is a trooper and a group of soldiers is a troop (or troupe). C’mon peep. The problem is that “troop” is invariably used in news reports to refer to _one_ soldier, despite the fact that lots of people, like me (and you, evidently) immediately associate it with more than one. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424/28 "2010-05-18T18:04:36Z")
Gotta’ love the Onion. > **[Kuwait Deploys Troop](https://www.theonion.com/kuwait-deploys-troop-1819587298)** > > The Onion brings you all of the latest news, stories, photos, videos and more from America's finest news source. > **[Troop Gradually Withdraws](https://www.theonion.com/troop-gradually-withdraws-1819568938)** > > BAGHDAD—According to members of his squad, 22-year-old Army Pfc. Casey Schreiner, who has been stationed in Iraq's Sunni Triangle for nearly a year and a half, is nearing completion of his psychological withdrawal from the war that constantly... > **[Bush Commits One Additional Troop To Afghanistan](https://www.theonion.com/bush-commits-one-additional-troop-to-afghanistan-1819568926)** > > WASHINGTON, DC—In an effort to display his administration's willingness to fight on all fronts in the War on Terror, President Bush said at a press conference Monday that American ground forces in Afghanistan will be aided by the immediate deployment... ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424/29 "2010-05-18T19:36:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > C’mon peep. The problem is that “troop” is invariably used in news reports to refer to _one_ soldier, despite the fact that lots of people, like me (and you, evidently) immediately associate it with more than one. Of course it is. I was just pointing out the origin of the term. It was quite often used in conjunction with cavalry units (hence the lamentable TV series: “F Troop”), wherein each soldier was a “trooper”. When it became popular to spout the platitudinous and now annoyingly ubiquitous “support the troops”, everyone except military and history buffs erroneously assumed that “troops” were like “persons”, although it’s been common enough in the Army to address another soldier as “troop”. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424/30 "2010-05-19T17:27:08Z")
Oddly enough, the word “troop” is used for a single soldier in the third paragraph of this DoD article: [http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53195](http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53195) ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424/31 "2010-05-20T09:51:31Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Oddly enough, the word “troop” is used for a single soldier in the third paragraph of this DoD article: [http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53195](http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53195) That is probably because it’s the military that keep insisting that “troop” means a single soldier, contrary to linguistic sense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-the-word-troop/539424.md?page=1)