Let’s talk about national security BUZZWORDS. My latest in @WarOnTheRocks! With special thanks to @Doctrine_Man for a brilliant buzzword bingo card.

RT @MerriamWebster: We find our definition of 'perplexing' confusing.

RT @MerriamWebster: If YOU were in charge of the English language for a day, what is one thing you would absolutely change?.

RT @PHDcomics: What to call your academic event

“Pentagon English” as defined in the official Air Force Dictionary in 1956:

RT @wylfcen: Before we took “control” from French, the native English word was “wield.” Don’t say “Have some self-control,” say “Wield your….

RT @MerriamWebster: During these unprecedented times, it’s important to remember that, although rare, ‘precedented’ is a word.

RT @EODHappyCaptain: I was today years old when I learned that the term BRAT (as in Military Brat) is an acronym from the British military.….

RT @MerriamWebster: A herring is a fish. When a herring is preserved by salting and smoking, it turns red and smells. It's so pungent tha….

Archaic military word of the day: OBSESSION, the act of besieging. (1810).

RT @johnkonrad: Trivia question of the day: Why does the Navy call them Aviators while everyone else calls them Pilots? .

RT @wylfcen: Reminder that the Old English word for a library was “bookhoard” (bōchord).

In ancient Rome, a governor or general could earn the OBSIDIONAL CROWN, if "by their skill and exertions, either held out, or caused the siege to be raised of any town belonging to the republic." The crown was made from grass harvested from the location of the broken siege.

In 1959, the U.S. Coast Guard bombed a couple of icebergs.

Why were British military musicians' uniforms so ostentatious in the 1800s? . Apparently, musicians were going straight to the alehouses after getting off duty, still in uniform. This wore out their uniforms too quickly and there was no money set aside to replace them. So a

RT @MerriamWebster: ‘Squirrelled,’ as in “squirrelled away,” can be pronounced “SKWERLD.”. ‘Squirrelled’ has 11 letters, making it the long….

RT @EODHappyCaptain: My favorite military tradition is asking someone what an acronym means right after they use it, and they don’t know wh….

RT @MerriamWebster: anxiolytic | adjective | relieving anxiety. We hope this weekend is anxiolytic for you.

RT @wylfcen: The word “eucatastrophe” was coined by Tolkien. He defined it as “the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a jo….

RT @Asst_to_the_RM: Solid episode by @USArmyDoctrine

RT @ElenaWicker: Four years ago, I taught an AI to write a U.S. National Security Strategy. (It did a pretty good job!) We are back in NSS….