I was watching the TV game show Wheel of Fortune last night and during the contestant introductions one of the three contestants said she was a "retired police detective". She was not an elderly woman and certainly not of what would be considered "retirement age" (ie typically age 62 or above). I would estimate her age to have been around 40. She added that she'd spent 11 years as a police detective. Therefore she did not spend her entire working career as a police detective and based on her age she's still presumably able to continue working in the workforce. I don't understand why she referred to herself as a "retired" police detective.
> When people "retire" from the military, it means that they've worked in the military for a certain amount of time and essentially have chosen that as their career (ie decades of work). A person who spends say, 11 years in the military but then decides to quit the job and move on wouldn't say they "retired" from the military since "retired" in the context of the military has a very specific meaning.
> When civilians "retire" from a job, generally they're people who have worked at that job for many years and they're generally of retirement age.
>I worked at a job for 20 years but changed to a different type of work in the same broad field. I wouldn't say that I "retired" from that previous job since I'm still in the workforce. I've also had other jobs prior to that. I wouldn't say that I've "retired" from any of those previous jobs that I've had. I wouldn't say "retired" in any of my situations because it would be incorrect use of the word.
Was she correct in referring to her situation that way? If so, why? Perhaps law enforcement has a distinct way of using that word that is different from any other type of work?
> When people "retire" from the military, it means that they've worked in the military for a certain amount of time and essentially have chosen that as their career (ie decades of work). A person who spends say, 11 years in the military but then decides to quit the job and move on wouldn't say they "retired" from the military since "retired" in the context of the military has a very specific meaning.
> When civilians "retire" from a job, generally they're people who have worked at that job for many years and they're generally of retirement age.
>I worked at a job for 20 years but changed to a different type of work in the same broad field. I wouldn't say that I "retired" from that previous job since I'm still in the workforce. I've also had other jobs prior to that. I wouldn't say that I've "retired" from any of those previous jobs that I've had. I wouldn't say "retired" in any of my situations because it would be incorrect use of the word.
Was she correct in referring to her situation that way? If so, why? Perhaps law enforcement has a distinct way of using that word that is different from any other type of work?