Troops or Soldiers?

One thing that has really bothered me since we went to war in Iraq is the media's use of the word "troops." I remember the first I noticed it was when a report came in that "five troops were killed in Iraq today." That convinced me that the Iraqis did have weapons of mass destruction. But then it was explained that the "five troops" were five individuals. So I thought maybe I had misunderstood the term. When in doubt, look it up! My dictionary says, "A group or company of people, animals, or things. A group of soldiers. Military units. A unit of at least five Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. A great many. A lot."

The individuals are not troops -- they are in a troop. Yet referring to individuals as troops is common usage now. It was the same several years ago. Our community has a charity bass fishing tournament each year called the "Uncle Jesse Bigmouth Bass Tournament." Of course, bigmouth refers to a type of fish. Some idiot radio announcer evidently didn't understand that. He was calling it the "Uncle Jesse's Big Mouth Big Bass Tournament." Instead of someone correcting him, that inane title stuck, and for two or three years after that all the radio announcers called it that. Evidently, someone with some intelligence (perhaps Uncle Jesse's wife) finally clued them in that what they were calling the tournament didn't quite "honor" Uncle Jesse. The correct name has been used since. Or at least will be until some other idiot mangles it.