Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: veteran.

veteran. Once a veteran, always a veteran. Hence *”former veteran” is redundant — e.g.: o “Many former veterans [read ‘veterans’] now work in the private sector and would have good reason to fear any disclosure of their possible exposure to Agent Orange.” Shira A. Scheindlin, “Discovering the Discoverable: A Bird’s Eye View of Discovery in a Complex Multi-District Class Action Litigation,” 52 Brook. L. Rev. 397, 421 n.94 (1986). o “Sometime after World War II, the Postal Service began to develop an inbred, bloated paramilitary culture. The ‘generals’ — many of them former veterans [read ‘veterans’] — who ran the place administered rigid rules from the Domestic Mail Manual, a tome the size of the New York City telephone book.” Bill McAllister, “Can Marvin Runyon Deliver?” Wash. Post (Mag.), 10 July 1994, at 16. Language-Change Index — *”former veteran” for “veteran”: Stage 2. *Invariably inferior form. For information about the Language-Change Index click here. ————————————— Quotation of the Day: Writing is an art. But, like any art, it depends on craft techniques, which can be taught to anyone who is willing to learn them. They are not easy. Like any craft worth mastering, writing calls for hard work. The tools of the craft are the writers hand, brain, heart and senses. They all have to work together to shape up the finished product. Writing thus calls into play the whole personality of the craftsman. Robert Strumpen-Darrie & Charles F. Berlitz, The Berlitz School of Languages 214 (1956).
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