Thread: Mia
View Single Post
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 04-Mar-2006, 19:18
rewboss's Avatar
rewboss rewboss is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Country: England
Posts: 1,574
Current Location: Germany
First Language: English
Member Type: English Teacher
Thanks: 0
Thanked 17 Times in 14 Posts
rewboss is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Mia

It means that a soldier got separated from his comrades during a battle; he may have been killed, or taken prisoner, or be lying injured somewhere, but nobody knows for sure.

Sometimes people use it in more everyday contexts, although it's slightly humorous. It's quite common on internet message boards, for example, when someone who has been a member for a long time suddenly stops posting. One of the other members might make a comment about that person being "MIA": perhaps he's got too much work to do, perhaps his computer's broken, perhaps he's ill -- nobody knows.
Reply With Quote