>>>>There should be a default but omitted noun, just like we say Češka, Poljska and Turska for Czech, Poland and Turkey - all of them adjectives, but with an assumed noun (country) to them. Somehow I expect "the military" to be a plural, just like "the poor".
>>>>
>>>>Soldiers?
>>>
>>>There is no plural of soldier. There are only troops, remember? Soldiers is not politically correct (don't ask me why).
>>>
>>
>>Soldiers is not a plural of soldier? You've lost me there.
>
>Count the newspaper reports from the current wars for the last ten years where they were deployed or died as such. I have only seen "8 troops", never "8 soldiers". One soldier, two troops, three troops... and of course, they didn't even have the time to update the dictionaries, where a troop is still defined only as a group of several members - military or theatrical or dancing.
>

Dance, dance, dance! ;-) I was responding to "There is no plural of soldier." Not going to worry about it.....