I used to think a “troop” was a bunch of soldiers, yet when I read news accounts, I see phrases like “The U.S. sent 10,000 troops overseas”. I used to be really confused at this (wondering how many soldiers constituted a troop) until I realized they mean 10,000 individual soldiers. The dictionary I consulted doesn’t define “troop” as one soldier. Why do the rules of english grammar break down here?
WAG, but i know that members of a troop were often referred to as troopers. I can see the media/general public mixing up troopers with troops to the point that its current usage became common.
It’s late at night, and I’m pretty sure why that’s why I’m going to be the first one to post this:
There is another thread on this topic here with more responses.