Elena Wicker
@elenawicker.bsky.social
đ€ 2848
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Military jargon, terminology, dictionaries, and documents. Georgetown PhD. Buzzword enthusiast.
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 todayâŠ
@warontherocks.bsky.social
warontherocks.com/2021/04/stra...
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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
https://warontherocks.com/2021/04/strategy-in-the-artificial-age-observations-from-teaching-an-ai-to-write-a-u-s-national-security-strategy
9 months ago
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Learning the hard way that if you lock yourself in to revise a book manuscript for a week, you start to go slightly batty?
9 months ago
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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 Armyâs Terminologist!
open.spotify.com/episode/68uG...
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Episode 91 - âWords Matterâ: Army Jargon, Terminology & Buzzword"
Breaking Doctrine · Episode
https://open.spotify.com/episode/68uGTrLSfOZ4ndKA4lfpvE?si=pgEv3SbcSGe210T0tgzgxQ
9 months ago
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Elena Wicker
Olivia Garard
9 months ago
Restaging Shakepeareâs 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.
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Political scientist here - just received the *perfect* spam textâŠ
#BowlingAlone
12 months ago
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âTo 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.â Octavia Butler
12 months ago
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âThe 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.â -Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies
12 months ago
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SUBORDINATION, from an 1885 US military dictionary. âIt 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.â (Insubordination not defined.)
12 months ago
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Most important article of a soldierâs rations? COFFEE. For its âexhilarating and refreshing properties.â (1885)
12 months ago
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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
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https://tnsr.org/2017/11/meaning-strategy-part-origin-story/
https://t.co/JF8YYkodmL
12 months ago
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My military dictionaries (and I) are in
@finebooks.bsky.social
magazine!
www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...
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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...
https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-news/honey-wax-book-collecting-prize-winner-elena-wicker-collecting-american-military
12 months ago
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Elena Wicker
Iâm gaining some followers so Iâll 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 youâre interested in if/when/how language shapes militaries - welcome!
about 1 year ago
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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.
about 1 year ago
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Elena Wicker
Angry Staff Officer
about 1 year ago
Dammit, Margaret Atwood. Didnât have to push the knife so deep Cc all my fellow military historians đïž (H/t to
@joelhanes.bsky.social
for making me aware of this poem)
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47788/...
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The Loneliness of the Military Historian
This is why few people ask me to dinner, though Lord knows I donât go out of my way to be scary. If I roll my eyes and mutter, if I clutch at my heart and scream in horror like a third-rate actress ch...
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47788/the-loneliness-of-the-military-historian
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Elena Wicker
Kara Dixon Vuic
about 1 year ago
Not an exhaustive list, but we're all likely exhausted.
add a skeleton here at some point
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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.
about 1 year ago
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Last night in Elena Does Very Serious Military History, I compiled a list of one hundred years worth of ânonexistent things new recruits were told they had to find.â My current favorite is pie tickets, WWII Navy. Followed by grid squares. What are your favorite examples?
about 1 year ago
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Navy dictionary from 1941.
about 1 year ago
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Elena Wicker
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.
over 2 years ago
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Need help. Trying to find every way that âhooahâ can be used. Motivation, agreement, acknowledgment, âŠ???
about 1 year ago
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Swacked, 1941 Navy slang:
about 1 year ago
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Elena Wicker
Paul M Kearney
about 1 year ago
Second starter pack. If youâre 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
add a skeleton here at some point
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In 1940s U.S. Army slang, chaplains were called âHoly Joes.â
about 1 year ago
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Alright people. Hit me with your favorite words.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 year ago
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Iâm gaining some followers so Iâll 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 youâre interested in if/when/how language shapes militaries - welcome!
about 1 year ago
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Military cyphers from 1810 đ Silver, vinegar, rocks, spirituous particlesâŠ
about 1 year ago
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The âfavorite back positionâ for marksmanship from an 1885 U.S. military encyclopediaâŠ
about 1 year ago
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reposted by
Elena Wicker
Olivia Garard
about 1 year ago
If various philosophers were active on social media or the internet, where would they be posting?
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Elena Wicker
Michael Brill
about 1 year ago
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...
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Institute for Future Conflict (IFC)
https://www.ifc.usafa.edu/articles/ifc-welcomes-inaugural-class-non-resident-fellows
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The type of archival document bullet that I have no ability to resist. Font wars?! Sans serif siege!
over 1 year ago
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reposted by
Elena Wicker
The Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfare
about 2 years ago
You missed it the first time, donât miss it this time! We talked about Buzzwords and how to make them with Dr
@elenawicker.bsky.social
, and you can hear it on YouTube or your favorite Podcast App.
#USMC
#TeamKrulak
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaNr...
spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/bjpgDVnuvEb
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reposted by
Elena Wicker
The Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfare
about 2 years ago
A
#BruteCast
next Monday!? We leave the sea for a moment and talk jargon and words with
@elenawicker.bsky.social
. She wanted someone to build a buzzword with and we complied with her demands! Join us with the link below.
#USMC
#TeamKrulak
#DoYouWantToBuildABuzzword
www.eventbrite.com/e/7327885593...
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Just going to drop this definition of âPentagon Englishâ here for you allâŠ
about 2 years ago
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As a military jargon researcher, AUSA is simultaneously my Barbieland and my villain origin story. Loved every second of it.
about 2 years ago
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A caution from your friendly military jargon researcher: remain wary of folks who seem to have learned all the biggest baddest words of military operations and strategy in the last few days. Vet all of your sources. Jargon can be excellent camouflage for ignorance.
about 2 years ago
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Living my best life at
#AUSA2023
, hanging out with mobile protected firepower.
#NotATank
about 2 years ago
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Favorite fun fact about the NDAA: The first NDAA from June 1961 was half a page long and had three sections: aircraft, missiles, and naval vessels. (It is a little bit longer now.)
about 2 years ago
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MANEUVER as defined in the first *official* Army Dictionary in 1944. I love that for aircraft it depends on âmovements out of the ordinaryââŠ
about 2 years ago
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Stratarithmometry. 1779. Thatâs it. Thatâs the post.
over 2 years ago
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We made it very clear to our Belgian Malinois that he is not allowed to stand on the low shelf to look out the window. His solution: #ChairsAreForSits
over 2 years ago
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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.
over 2 years ago
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My wordle approach is pure chaos - I guess a different first word every time. Today I achieved greatness. đ Wordle 812 1/6 đ©đ©đ©đ©đ©
over 2 years ago
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My newest article! Functions of jargon beyond mere communicationâŠ
mwi.westpoint.edu/civil-milita...
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Civil-Military Translation: Encoding, Signaling, and Survival - Modern War Institute
In 1786, Benjamin Rush, a Founding Father of the United States, described a âpartial insanityâ gripping American soldiers. A politician, physician, and former surgeon general of the Continental Ar...
https://mwi.westpoint.edu/civil-military-translation-encoding-signaling-and-survival/
over 2 years ago
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*lugs boxes of dictionaries over to new social networkâŠ* đ
over 2 years ago
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