# Trooper or trouper **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 22, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245 "2011-02-22T16:52:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/1 "2011-02-22T16:52:38Z")
In the sentence “you’re a real trouper”, how should trouper be spelled? I had always thought trouper, but I’m seeing trooper now. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/2 "2011-02-22T16:55:23Z")
Trouper 1. An actor or other entertainer, typically one with long experience. > **[Trouper Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/trouper)** > > Trouper definition, an actor, especially a member of a touring company. See more. State Trooper - a cop You’re a real trouper. Actors are known for performing no matter what. The show must go on. I think the phrase means you’re determined to complete a job no matter how hard it is. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/3 "2011-02-22T17:00:05Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I had always thought trouper, but I’m seeing trooper now. Bask in your superiority. ---
**Author:** ![FasterThanMeerkats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@FasterThanMeerkats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FasterThanMeerkats)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/4 "2011-02-22T17:07:36Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Trouper 1. An actor or other entertainer, typically one with long experience. > [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trouper](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trouper) > State Trooper - a cop > > You’re a real trouper. Actors are known for performing no matter what. The show must go on. I think the phrase means you’re determined to complete a job no matter how hard it is. Ummm.. what about [trooper](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trooper) from the same dictionary [bolding mine]? It mentions a slightly different idiom and even says it can be confused with trouper. I’m guessing the idioms just got blended over time. I always thought the OP’s idiom used trooper, as in willing to “soldier on” in the face of hardship. noun 1. a horse-cavalry soldier. 2. a mounted police officer; a police officer on horseback. 3. state trooper. 4. a cavalry horse. 5. Chiefly British . a troopship. \*\*—Idiom 6. like a trooper, with great energy, enthusiasm, or display: He swears like a trooper. \*\* Origin: 1630–40; troop + -er1 \*\*—Can be confused:   trooper, trouper. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/5 "2011-02-22T17:12:11Z")
ABBA spelled it “Super Trouper”, and that’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![FasterThanMeerkats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@FasterThanMeerkats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FasterThanMeerkats)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/6 "2011-02-22T17:14:52Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Actors are known for performing no matter what. The show must go on. I think the phrase means you’re determined to complete a job no matter how hard it is. Then why do they need understudies?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/7 "2011-02-22T18:14:26Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Bask in your superiority. Ah, if only I could be superior in more than this!! ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/8 "2011-02-22T18:58:36Z")
While carrying on and getting the job done is important to any field, it think it was always ‘‘trouper’’. People seem to be getting sloppier and sloppier. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/9 "2011-02-22T19:09:48Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > ABBA spelled it “Super Trouper”, and that’s good enough for me. The Abba song is about a brand of follow-spot, which is itself named after “trouper” as in a member of an acting troupe. I agree that “trooper” is a more sensible word in this context, as it references military and police troopers, known for their ruggedness, sense of duty, and courage, and not actors, who are known for being narcissistic boobs. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/10 "2011-02-22T19:16:56Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I had always thought trouper, but I’m seeing trooper now. This is for the the same reason you see “there” instead of “their”, “your” instead if “you’re”, and “to” instead of “too”. I was going to say nobody knows how to spell anymore, but it’s worse than that. Fewer and fewer people seem to even _care_ whether they spell correctly, and nobody outside of the Dope seems interested in correcting them. Sad. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/11 "2011-02-22T19:31:06Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > This is for the the same reason you see “there” instead of “their”, “your” instead if “you’re”, and “to” instead of “too”. > > I was going to say nobody knows how to spell anymore, but it’s worse than that. Fewer and fewer people seem to even _care_ whether they spell correctly, and nobody outside of the Dope seems interested in correcting them. Sad. Not knowing your theres from your theirs is sad, but I have yet to see any persuasive evidence that “trooper” is incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/12 "2011-02-22T19:58:17Z")
How does one “troup”? ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/13 "2011-02-22T20:02:21Z")
> [@FasterThanMeerkats](#): > > Then why do they need understudies?😃 The **show** must go on, not the actors. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/14 "2011-02-22T20:08:09Z")
I also vote for “trouper,” although, in this case, as it is easy to see how the confusion would arise, “trooper” seems to be a much less egregious error than some of the other homophonic malapropisms that one commonly sees. ---
**Author:** ![Gil-Martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Gil-Martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gil-Martin)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/15 "2011-02-23T00:39:11Z")
I learned “trouper,” although “trooper” makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trooper-or-trouper/572245/16 "2011-02-23T01:43:44Z")
My 1993 Miriam-Webster says _trouper_ is the correct one.