Combatants usually refers to untrained people. Soldiers means trained. The simplistic answer is soldiers wear uniforms and combatants don’t. The more complex answer is we define enemy fighters as combatants because that allows us to ignore the Geneva conventions against torture and other inhumane treatment.
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You are right! And I always thought it was cockney. And that’s not because someone on Eastenders opened an Indian Restaurant called the Argie Bargie (or should that be Bhaji?)
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That actually sounds quite logical and believable.
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I think @Robin1 is right or half right.
AI says:
The word “combatants” accounts for all branches of the military, whereas “soldiers” specifically means members of an army. In the 1982 conflict:
- The majority of the British lives lost were actually Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines, alongside Army soldiers and Royal Air Force personnel.
- Using “British soldiers” would be factually incorrect. “Combatants” correctly covers every service member who took part in the hostilities.
HaHa, remember where you heard it first.
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Of course not. The polo ponies are far too well behaved 
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