Loachman said:
Just a point - "duff" means "bad".
That was confusing me too! 'Duff' can mean numerous things...
- A stiff flour pudding boiled in a cloth bag or steamed.
- Decaying leaves and branches covering a forest floor.
- Fine coal; slack.
- a brand of skate shoes
- a slang term for the bits left in the bottom of the bag after the booty has been consumed; crumbs
- what novice golfers do, and they are sometimes called "duffers"
- a fictional brand of beer featured in The Simpsons; also a real beer made in Australia
- an annoying teeny-bopper singer trying to be the next Britney Spears
- "Up the duff" is apparently UK/Aus/NZ slang for being pregnant.
- in science fiction terminology, DUFF means the Down Under Fan Fund (a fan fund to bring Australasian members of fandom to North America and vice versa)
- in social terms, DUFF can mean Designated Ugly Fat Friend (a less attractive friend brought to a party so you look better).
There are three common Army uses for the word that I know of:
a) referring to the buttocks as in 'get off your duff', and
b) to indicate a falsehood, as in 'that's a load of duff', and
c) indicating a truth when preceded by 'no', as in 'no duff' (used to be a common radio and command term during exercises when emergencies happened)
Conclusion - Duff doesn't mean bad, it tends to refer more to a 'load of garbage'...
Enough of the language lesson hijack, on to the 'my 2 cents' on the subject of patriotism.
Strictly speaking, a patriot is a person who loves and defends his or her country. This is a positive connotation, and would include just about every Canadian soldier I ever worked with. (Oh, and me too!). Many soldiers I worked with from other countries were patriotic to their home nations (the deluded fools - Canada rules!).
However this is only a simple dictionary definition - there are also negative connotations to the term, which include fanaticism (believing that your country is always right no matter what your country does), ethnocentrism (believing that our values, ethics and morals are superior to those of other groups of people), and discrimination (putting up barriers against those who do not agree with our country's values, ethics, morals, and evident superiority).
In the end I think patriotism is a great thing, a desired trait in every soldier. I like Wotan's list of possibilities so I'll use those as well:
Should a person join their nation's military if they aren't a patriot? No, I dont think they should, if they dont believe in the ethics morals and values of the country, of which the military is a small cross-section. You dont
have to be a patriot to join, but you should be patriotic if you intend to enjoy your career.
Should a person join their nation's military if they don't believe in that military's ethos? No, I dont think they should. If they have an open mind, great, see what its like and maybe they will become a believer, but if they object to the job, why join? Its the same for any other organization - if they dont agree with the ideas the organization represents they will end up in conflict with those who do.
Should a person join their nation's military if they don't believe in the ethics of their military? Same as above. I will point out however, that many people out there have a completely incorrect belief of what the ethics of our military are. Not only incorrect, but at times fanatically incorrect to the point of being brainwashed by other sources of information.
Should a person join their nation's military if they are in a desperate situation? This is confusing...do you mean financially, being homeless, or by some other means, like avoiding going to jail? I know of a couple of guys who joined to avoid going to jail, and I would consider them to be patriots. Unless you have a specific situation in mind, this would have to be answered on a case-by-case basis.