[ANSTHRLD] Re: Optio

[Jay Rudin]

Etienne wrote:

> The intent is for an award rather than an order.  The award confers a
> military rank as well as an armigerous rank.  The military rank is "Optio"
> (essentially an NCO or Sergeant level position).

This is not quite technically accurate.  It's relatively unimportant whether
the name is submitted with the word "award" or the word "order".

An award is a trinket you are given, like a thistle.  The thistle isn't a
person, it's the thing that hangs around your neck.  You can get more than
one thistle, because you *have* a thistle, rather than you *are* a thistle.
An order is a group you join.  The centurion is not the cloak or the garter;
it's the person who wears them.  Centurions are a body of people with
specific duties.

If they are "Optios", and they are a body of people with specific duties,
then it's an order, whether we call it one or not.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin