The Telegraph has an article on how the gunman shot dead in Chelsea was “ex-armed services”.
What exactly are the “Armed Services”, I was under the impression we referred to the Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy as the “Armed Forces”. Could this be a rebranding like the Police Force becoming the Police Service, so as to be less scary? Or simply journalists adopting an American expression?
I think we should be told.
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Don’t think it’s an Americanism but it sounds odd. But then I always write the gender-neutral “service-personnel” which does sound pretentious.
By: charliemarks on May 8, 2008
at 8:34 pm