Elena Wicker

But you sound *fancy* which is a win all in itself.

This is a new one for me 👀

White smoke indicates decisions have been made, black smoke means we are setting up a working group.

I’ve started calling work meetings “conclaves.”

DECISION CONVERGENT I love it

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

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...

I did all the chores last weekend and told my husband to ignore me for a week 🤣

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

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

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...

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.

I found “fish” in sailor slang back to the 1700s but nothing about the army… sorry!!

Hi! I can take a look for you, what is the term?

Ignoring this message feels like contributing to the collapse of American community

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

I can’t really disagree with that 🤣

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...

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

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

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!

👀 (Accurate.)

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

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.

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.

Oh this is too perfect!!