Comments on: How Many are in a Troop? http://wordsnack.com/2007/05/18/how-many-are-in-a-troop/ Bite-sized ponderings on the Word and words in general. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:41:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Jill and John Beasley http://wordsnack.com/2007/05/18/how-many-are-in-a-troop/#comment-2323 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:37:14 +0000 http://wordsnack.com/2007/05/18/how-many-are-in-a-troop/#comment-2323 Sometimes the usage for 'troops ' is more colloquial - we would say - "Call in the troops for dinner" or if extra help is needed - "We'd better call in the troops". It would seem that the two usages - military and a common usage as in the Oxford Dict. (English) - have been 'mixed'. I have an old Pocket Oxford Dictionary (which is also now available on-line at AskOxford.com) that gives the following: Set of congregated persons or animals esp. one on the move or just arrived or about to depart (troops of friends to see him off) etc. I like the AskOxford site. Think you can also download their dictionary, or buy it. Sometimes the usage for ‘troops ‘ is more colloquial - we would say - “Call in the troops for dinner” or if extra help is needed - “We’d better call in the troops”. It would seem that the two usages - military and a common usage as in the Oxford Dict. (English) - have been ‘mixed’. I have an old Pocket Oxford Dictionary (which is also now available on-line at AskOxford.com) that gives the following:
Set of congregated persons or animals esp. one on the move or just arrived or about to depart (troops of friends to see him off) etc.

I like the AskOxford site. Think you can also download their dictionary, or buy it.

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