fandom_grammar . Say What?: A volunteer is worth twenty pressed men / An army marches on its stomach (Reply)

In this edition of Say What? we’re looking at two expressions which have military origins, but can be equally well applied in a more general sense. You may be familiar with both, though not necessarily with the meaning or the origin, so let’s jump right in.

A volunteer is worth twenty pressed men

The origin of this proverb is in the early 18th century, a time when the Royal Navy would often have groups of sailors armed with cudgels, colloquially called "press gangs", travel the areas around ports with the objective of impressing, or forcing, men with some sort of nautical experience into military service. This practice started in the 1660s and continued until after the defeat and abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814. Impressment was required because, during that period, the British government did not conscript its subjects into military service. Of course, just because a man was clubbed over the head and dragged away only to wake up in the bowels of a sailing ship did not make him a good sailor. Hence in 1705, T. Hearne noted in his Journal for 31 Oct (published in Remarks & Collections in 1885) that:

Tis said my Lord Seymour presently after Mr. Smith was pronounc'd Speaker, rose up, and told then, Gentlemen; you have got a Low Church man; but pray remember that 100 Voluntiers are worth 200 press’d men.

As you can see, the ratio of volunteers to pressed men was much lower in this example, just one to two, and that number has varied over the years, with Rudyard Kipling in Captains Courageous in 1897 indicating that "one volunteer was worth five hirelings", and M. M. Kaye in Shadow of the Moon (1977) saying "one volunteer was worth three pressed men". Regardless of the numbers used, the concept is that someone who volunteers for a task is likely to put a much greater effort into it than one or more other people forced to perform that same task.

The expression can be worked fairly readily into your stories, particularly in a situation where it's believed that a small group can have a bigger impact than a large one.

"Gibbs," Ziva said quietly, "I have identified eight crew members protecting the weapons shipment."
"Tony and Ziva, take the forward gangway; McGee, you're with me. We’ll go on my mark," Gibbs replied.
"But there are only four of us." McGee's quiet tone was marked by his concern.
"Haven’t you heard the expression, probie?" Tony said, smirking. "One volunteer is worth two pressed men, and they're not doing this by choice."

An army marches on its stomach

This proverb is attributed to both Napoleon Bonaparte and Frederick the Great, and is unusual in English due to the figurative reference to the stomach. The first published reference to the expression is from Windsor Magazine in January 1904, which printed:

'An army marches on its stomach.' 'C'est la soupe qui fait le soldat.' These Napoleonic aphorisms... have been increasingly appreciated by our war office.

Literally translated from French, the expression says 'this is the soup that makes the soldier', which makes the meaning a little clearer -- without soup, you don't have a soldier. So the inference is that the supplies and services which keep an army in the field are just as important as the soldiers who do the actual fighting. This was demonstrated through Napoleon's strategies, which were unusual at the time, in how he grouped and manoeuvered his forces while on campaign.

The expression can be used by any character looking to explain that there’s more to any sort of job than just the work itself. For example:

"Tony," McGee whined, "why do you always snack so much when we’re on a stakeout?"
"An army marches on its stomach, McGrumpy. Gotta be well supplied, or you’ll never be ready when the time comes."

As you can see, while both expressions have military origins, there are definitely applications well beyond that. Just make sure that your volunteers are well supplied and supported, or they may not be that much more effective than those pressed into service.

Sources
Simpson, John and Speake, Jennifer (2008), A Dictionary of Proverbs. Oxford University Press.
Wikipedia – Impressment