On Thu, 8 Mar 2001 15:11:17 +1200, J.M. Vitoux <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Reef Fish wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, 7 Mar 2001 13:41:24 +1200, J.M. Vitoux
<[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> < SNIP >
>>
>> >
>> >It is maybe me, being a non-native english speaker etc. ,
>>
>> >"trying to enlist me" and "asking me to join" doesn't equate to
>> >"I was recruited".

>>
>> It was your English.   They mean the SAME.
>>
>> Example:  Army officers (in the USA) "recruit" students to join
>> the Army.  They are "trying to enlist" the students, and they
>> are "asking (the students) to join".


>Regarding the meaning of "recruit" I had to look it up to get
>exactly what you meant. Your proposed meaning is one among
>others.

But is by far the MOST COMMON meaning of the term "recruit"
as used in the example I gave.


>Furthermore, I'll venture that the meaning you chose is
>by far less common than the one I knew (and obviously the one Lee
>knows).

You mis-ventured.

I've seen the usage of that word hundreds of times, in various
contexts.  Recruiting students to one of the Armed forces in the
USA is one.  We recruit students for our universities and graduate
departments.  We recruit faculty members.  College sports programs
recruit good atheletes for their sports, etc., etc.

In ALL of the above, they carry the UNMISTABLE meaning in the USA
to mean "trying to enlist" and "asking to join".

In fact, I DON'T know any other meaning of "recruit" until I looked
up some obscure meanings, prompted by your present post.


>It is my belief that you deliberately took this angle knowing
>that Lee, and  I suspect most of the readers of this list would
>misunderstand it.
>
>Jean-Marc

J.M., you str gravely mistaken.

In any event, your allegation that I "deliberately took this
angle" is preposterous beyond belief!  That's the ONLY meaning
I know of the use of "recruit" as a VERB.

It is quite POSSIBLE that the word "recruit" have different
meanings OUTSIDE of the USA.

Let's make it easy for everyone for me to ask THIS:

Is there ANY AMERICAN reader on this list (Lee excepted) who
misunderstood "recruit" to mean something different in any
of the COMMON examples I cited above?  These are (to repeat):


#> Recruiting students to one of the Armed forces in the
#> USA is one.  We recruit students for our universities and graduate
#> departments.  We recruit faculty members.  College sports programs
#> recruit good atheletes for their sports, etc., etc.

Not to mention companies recruit managers and high ranking
officers.  These recruiters are often called "head hunters".

-- Bob.