Correct usage

You know, sometimes we all do it. We decide it's high time we abuse our language for no good goddamn reason at all. When people say "I could care less" when they're trying to tell you that they couldn't care less. When a baseball announcer talks about a runner "literally flying around the bases" when he means it figuratively. It's vs. its drives me absolutely batty. Perhaps the easiest to forgive but for it's incredible frequency is how widely we use ironic. But every now and then, something strikes a chord in the OCD center of my brain. For me, 'tis a small and underutilized section sandwiched somewhere between the engorged Pun Cortex and the bloated Inane Trivia Lobe. But when it's hot, it's hot. And when it's not, it's not. And you'll notice that those "it's" have the goddamn apostrophe because for shit's sake, the apostrophe isn't the possessive, but the conjunction for "it is."

Anyway, the term which threw me into this deep, raging funk of mindless and utterly pointless nitpicking is the word "warrior." Specifically, about a week ago I saw a commercial for some new Stallone movie which referred to a bunch of retired spec ops turned mercernaries (or something?) as warriors.

I don't know why this bothers me but it does. Let's get this straight. Soldiers follow orders. Mercenaries follow money. Warriors follow ideals. If Stallone's character was captured, would he commit seppuku? I'd love to see that. Are they pursuing harmony? Peace? The spread of an ideal? Or even the rule of one they consider just? Or are they cogs (soldiers?) or self-serving cogs (mercenaries)? These are very different things.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go watch some Akira Kurosawa films and ruminate on the nature of a warrior. Then, I'll rewatch Hero and consider where Heroes and Warriors overlap and where they seperate. Finally, I'll put my head through the wall for wasting an entire afternoon pursuing pointless bullshit. Now that's a plan.