I’m writing concerning what I believe to be the improper usage of the words “troops” and “troop” in headlines about soldiers fighting or dying in the Iraq war. The latest example was a headline on the front page of the Jan. 9 Sun Journal, “17 troops killed in Iraq war.”

According to the American Heritage College Dictionary, the word “troop” refers to a group of soldiers. The word “troops” refers to military units. Both refer to multiple soldiers, not to individual soldiers, as was the intended use in the headline.

It is true that a thesaurus lists the word “soldiers” as a possible replacement for the word “troops” (and vice versa), however, the word “soldier” is not a replacement for the word “troop.” The reason is that a “troop” is a military unit made up of soldiers. If one wanted to talk about a single, whole unit of soldiers, for instance, the proper word choice would be “troop.” Two or more units of soldiers would be “troops.”

Use of the word “troops” in the headline is misleading, giving the impression that entire units of soldiers were killed. The words “soldier” or “soldiers” would be more appropriate.

One life is bad enough to lose. We do not need implied exaggeration to know that war is not a glorious event.

Joseph B.N. Bissell, Canton

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