Four years ago, I taught an AI to write a National Security Strategy. (It did a pretty good job!) We are back in NSS season and I wonder how much better AI would do at this today… @warontherocks.bsky.social warontherocks.com/2021/04/stra...

Strategy in the Artificial Age: Observations From Teaching an AI to Write a U.S. National Security Strategy - War on the Rocks

Words matter to members of the U.S. defense establishment, especially if those words are found in official documents like the National Security Strategy

warontherocks.com

Learning the hard way that if you lock yourself in to revise a book manuscript for a week, you start to go slightly batty?

Ever wondered about where Army terminology comes from? Or how word choice affects how we understand the future of war? I was on the Breaking Doctrine podcast with the Army’s Terminologist! open.spotify.com/episode/68uG...

Episode 91 - “Words Matter”: Army Jargon, Terminology & Buzzword"

Breaking Doctrine · Episode

open.spotify.com

Restaging Shakepeare’s Troilus and Cressida (5.2): Diomedes to Cressida: We are currently clean on OPSEC. Overhearing them, Ulysses to Troilus [aside]: We are currently clean on OPSEC. Overhearing both, Thersites [aside]: A juggling trick - to be secretly open.

Political scientist here - just received the *perfect* spam text… #BowlingAlone

“To study history is to study humanity. And to try to foretell the future without studying history is like trying to learn to read without bothering to learn the alphabet.” Octavia Butler

“The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake. And if you want to fight snakes, look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.” -Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

SUBORDINATION, from an 1885 US military dictionary. “It is subordination that gives a soul and harmony to the service: it adds strength to authority, and merit to obedience; and while it secures the efficacy of command, reflects honor upon its execution.” (Insubordination not defined.)

Most important article of a soldier’s rations? COFFEE. For its “exhilarating and refreshing properties.” (1885)

Trying to clarify how threads of military jargon unfurl from 1700/1800s terms like stratagem, strategical ops, stratotic, stratarithmetry, stratarithmometry, and strategos and I keep returning to these @ldfreedman.bsky.social pieces in TNSR… mandatory reading! t.co/JF8YYkodmL

My military dictionaries (and I) are in @finebooks.bsky.social magazine! www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...

Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize Winner Elena Wicker on Collecting American Military Dictionaries, Glossaries, and Lexicons

Our Bright Young Collectors series continues today with Elena Wicker, winner of the 2024 Honey & Wax Book Collecting prize for women collectors aged 30 and younger:Where are you from / where do you li...

finebooksmagazine.com

I’m gaining some followers so I’ll introduce myself… Hi! I talk about military jargon, terminology, and buzzwords. I research military documents and how words shape orgs, move money, and/or make everyone confused. If you’re interested in if/when/how language shapes militaries - welcome!

a man sitting at a table with the words words do matter on the table

Alt: a man sitting at a table with the words words do matter on the table

media.tenor.com

Three holiday parties last week and I only talked about navy encyclopedia editors shipwrecked by hurricanes to TWO PEOPLE. And they ASKED for fun facts.

a man is giving a speech in front of a sign that says rusted leadership for a stronger america

ALT: a man is giving a speech in front of a sign that says rusted leadership for a stronger america

media.tenor.com

Dammit, Margaret Atwood. Didn’t have to push the knife so deep Cc all my fellow military historians 🗃️ (H/t to @joelhanes.bsky.social for making me aware of this poem) www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47788/...

Not an exhaustive list, but we're all likely exhausted.

Annual NDAA fun fact: The first NDAA from June 1961 was half a page long and had only three sections: aircraft, missiles, and naval vessels.

Last night in Elena Does Very Serious Military History, I compiled a list of one hundred years worth of “nonexistent things new recruits were told they had to find.” My current favorite is pie tickets, WWII Navy. Followed by grid squares. What are your favorite examples?

Navy dictionary from 1941.

Apparently in 1779, there were these things called message balls or message shells. You hollowed out a howitzer shell, put your letter inside, and then SHOT IT AT YOUR INTENDED RECIPIENT.

Need help. Trying to find every way that “hooah” can be used. Motivation, agreement, acknowledgment, …???

Swacked, 1941 Navy slang:

Second starter pack. If you’re looking for well researched and thoughtful analysis, you could do worse than these folks. This list is composed of academics I admire and whose research has influenced my thoughts in some way. Follow them if you value depth over click bait. go.bsky.app/FQ9AZBy

In 1940s U.S. Army slang, chaplains were called “Holy Joes.”

Alright people. Hit me with your favorite words.

Merriam-Webster@merriam-webster.com · 2y ago

What is the most overused word in your industry? Let it out.

I’m gaining some followers so I’ll introduce myself… Hi! I talk about military jargon, terminology, and buzzwords. I research military documents and how words shape orgs, move money, and/or make everyone confused. If you’re interested in if/when/how language shapes militaries - welcome!

a man sitting at a table with the words words do matter on the table

Alt: a man sitting at a table with the words words do matter on the table

media.tenor.com

Military cyphers from 1810 👀 Silver, vinegar, rocks, spirituous particles…

The “favorite back position” for marksmanship from an 1885 U.S. military encyclopedia…

If various philosophers were active on social media or the internet, where would they be posting?

I'm honored to be part of the Institute for Future Conflict's (IFC) inaugural cohort of non-resident fellows, alongside @elenawicker.bsky.social & other great scholars. Created in 2021, the IFC is located at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. www.ifc.usafa.edu/articles/ifc...

The type of archival document bullet that I have no ability to resist. Font wars?! Sans serif siege!