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Let’s talk about national security BUZZWORDS. My latest in @WarOnTheRocks! With special thanks to @Doctrine_Man for a brilliant buzzword bingo card. warontherocks.com/2023/05/full-s…
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Elena Wicker
7.5K posts
Elena Wicker
@ElenaWicker
Military jargon, terminology, buzzwords, dictionaries, documents • PhD from @GUGovt
FM 1-02.1 Katılım Ağustos 2014
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
The word 'clue' was originally a variant spelling of 'clew,' meaning “ball of thread or yarn.”
Our modern sense of clue, “guide to the solution of a mystery,” grows out of a motif in myth and folklore, the ball of thread that helps in finding one’s way out of a maze.
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
-cease and desist
-null and void
-aid and abet
-free and clear
-ways and means
Why is law stuff like this always two words?
These are called ‘legal doublets’ and we can once again blame the Normans.
🧵⬇️
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
The official #SuperBowlLX coin is a silver medal called the Libertas Americana, commissioned by Benjamin Franklin to celebrate American independence.
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Big day for the dictionary collection… 1802 and 2026!
In the first ten minutes, had to look up a word from the 1802 in the 2026 🤣. #exiguous
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
“Think not of the books you’ve bought as a ‘to be read’ pile. Instead, think of your bookcase as a wine cellar. You collect books to be read at the right time, the right place, and the right mood.”
-Luc van Donkersgoed
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
Them: You're not buying new books, are you?
Me: Absolutely not. These books were published years ago.
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
If the theory is beautiful but the data hates it, trust the data.
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A normal military dictionary from the 1700s: How to make a stink bomb! Recipes to feed a thousand. Tunes for bagpipes! Artillery tables (for your stink bomb). Some random French. A list of every war ever. How to preserve your vast personal collection of oysters. Now CATAPULTS.
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
The national security strategy dropped last night. @kaylahaas - former @USMC now @Rivet_US - created this quick breakdown a while back to help illustrate how the U.S. strategic guidance works: whitehouse.gov/wp-content/upl…
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
Elena Wicker retweetledi
“Have Yourself A Merriam Little Christmas”
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
Words that turn 100 in 2025 include sweatshirt, motel, recycle and group therapy.
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
My favorite book is the dictionary because it contains the ingredients for all other books.
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
grawlix | noun | a series of typographical symbols (such as $#!) used in text as a replacement for profanity
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
Today I offer a reminder of the word ‘forswunk’ (13th century): exhausted from too much work. To be ‘foreswunk’ (my own version) is to be exhausted before you even begin.
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
Here is an interesting adjective quirk that you probably aren’t even aware you are doing.
In English, adjectives seem to follow a specific order:
opinion - size - age - shape - color - origin - material - purpose - noun
⬇️
merriam-webster.com/grammar/one-we…
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@LaymansLinguist They don’t all have the same words!!! So to get all the words, you need all the dictionaries!
(Also at what number does it become too many dictionaries … asking for a friend…)
GIF
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Elena Wicker retweetledi
"I bet you have 100 dictionaries. Do you have 100 dictionaries?"
"I have 4 dictionaries."
"That's too many! They all have the same amount of words!"
"They are all different."
Ben Schwartz@rejectedjokes
I have never seen this deleted scene before. Nor do I remember saying any of these words. But man did it make me happy to remember this day.
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I am that person who goes to a Labor Day wine tasting weekend and somehow comes home with a spelling book from 1870. 🤷♀️
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@ColdWarFran If you need official US Army acronyms, this is the best source! (If it isn’t in here, it doesn’t mean it isn’t a real “Army” acronym, it just means that it isn’t in doctrine.) armypubs.army.mil/ProductMaps/Pu…
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@ElenaWicker Thanks, this helps explain the confusion!
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Unfortunately, military acronyms don’t have the same standardization requirements as official military words - which is why you see so much duplication and weirdness (like “backronyms” or using the second or third letter of a word in the acronym).
Francesca Akhtar 🇮🇹 🇬🇧@ColdWarFran
Can anyone help with US military acronyms? I've seen both the US Army Chief of Staff, Intelligence & the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence referred to by the acronym 'ACSI.' But that can't be correct, can it? Internet search doesn't help.
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