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Christanford Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary
Casualty
Hi,
This is the title of an article from the Guardian:-
We must fight on, says Brown, as Afghanistan deaths pass 200 mark
Death of two wounded soldiers brings number of British military losses to 201
This is one of the sentences of the article:-
This morning, the Ministry of Defence said that the 201st casualty, from 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, also died yesterday from his injuries after being caught in an explosion on a foot patrol near Sangin in Helmand.
Since a casualty is someone who is injured or killed in war, of these 201 casualties, some may not have brought the death toll up, if they were injured but survived. Here the death toll is the same as the number of casualties, so I wondered, does it mean that all who were injured died from their injuries? Could it be that 201 is the number of casualties from 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and it is merely coincidental that 201 is also the UK death toll in the entire conflict?
Thank you in advance for your help
This is the title of an article from the Guardian:-
We must fight on, says Brown, as Afghanistan deaths pass 200 mark
Death of two wounded soldiers brings number of British military losses to 201
This is one of the sentences of the article:-
This morning, the Ministry of Defence said that the 201st casualty, from 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, also died yesterday from his injuries after being caught in an explosion on a foot patrol near Sangin in Helmand.
Since a casualty is someone who is injured or killed in war, of these 201 casualties, some may not have brought the death toll up, if they were injured but survived. Here the death toll is the same as the number of casualties, so I wondered, does it mean that all who were injured died from their injuries? Could it be that 201 is the number of casualties from 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and it is merely coincidental that 201 is also the UK death toll in the entire conflict?
Thank you in advance for your help
Top answer
I don't think they are using casualty in its normal sense. Of course, not every soldier who got wounded died, and it's not possible for every soldier to either not be wounded at all or killed, with none of them just injured. They are using 'casualty' as a euphemism for 'soldiers who have died', presumably to avoid more emotive language right now - or it could be standard military language for all I know.
- I don't think they are using casualty in its normal sense.
- Of course, not every soldier who got wounded died, and it's not possible for every soldier to either not be wounded at all or killed, with none of them just injured.
- They are using 'casualty' as a euphemism for 'soldiers who have died', presumably to avoid more emotive language right now - or it could be standard military language for all I know.
- 201 soldiers have died.
- There are others who have been injured.
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2 Answers
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I don't think they are using casualty in its normal sense. Of course, not every soldier who got wounded died, and it's not possible for every soldier to either not be wounded at all or killed, with none of them just injured.
They are using 'casualty' as a euphemism for 'soldiers who have died', presumably to avoid more emotive language right now - or it could be standard military languag
They are using 'casualty' as a euphemism for 'soldiers who have died', presumably to avoid more emotive language right now - or it could be standard military languag
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