What is the difference between fighting and combat?

In a thread about "karate" it was mentioned that karate is not combat but fighting and not necessarily one that was taught as the pre-cursor to what is practiced today, i.e. sport oriented, etc.

In that thread two quotes were made that prompted me to consider the question. Quotes are:

Combat (intent to kill someone from another tribe as he tries to do the same to you) is very different from fighting (usually two people in the same tribe in contest over something). - Marc MacYoung on Animal-List; Subject: AL:KARATE: Contemporary vs. Traditionalist by Tristan Sutrisno Sensei.
A DI expressed the attitude about boot camp trainees undergoing grappling training as, "We don't expect them to fight at this range, but we want to instill the willingness to fight at any range." - Marc MacYoung on Animal-List; Subject: AL:KARATE: Contemporary vs. Traditionalist by Tristan Sutrisno Sensei.

We get things so mixed up and it is simply because we see or read or hear something that triggers this innate feeling of "cool stuff" and then without further ado we use it and only find out that it is crap when someone who took the time to research and find out the "rest of the story" and are told we are wrong, incorrect, inaccurate, and just plain stupid.

Marc MacYoung in his quotes above really provides a good view of combat vs. fighting. If you are on the animal list you can read the entire post which is enlightening. He has such a good way of conveying things, crude sometimes and funny and factual with a smidgeon of experience thrown in.

Combat does not occur on the streets against violent attacks. We are not Samurai, we are not Warriors. We are civilians who wish to learn how to compete in sport based competitions. Those who practice to fight still are not learning combat but actually a ritualized way to fight in the monkey dance. Seldom does anyone actually practice and train for predatory violent encounters.

Even if a predator is trying to kill you it is not combat. Your fighting for your life yes, but not combat. Combat is where one tribe, say country, tries to force something on another tribe, another country, or tries to take by force something away from another tribe/country. Sometimes wars and combat are a result of belief systems such as religion. It is not fighting, it is combat where folks on both sides try their very best to kill each other.

For what fighting is in its entirety you need to go to nonsense self defense and both Marc MacYoung and Rory Miller's books on violence where they will be more than willing to explain all the various forms of violence and "fighting."

Lets get real, all those sound bites are "selling points" to get the uninitiated to buy into their all encompassing three day course of how to be the deadliest person on the planet. There is no such animal ... ops, sorry Mr. MacYoung, forgot you are the Animal! ;-)

This post is mine and does not reflect in any way any meaning that would be Marc's, he may or may not agree with what I have posted. The quotes are his and are outside the thread so may be incomplete in meaning as it should be read with the rest of the post for proper context.