Military lingo

10 military terms that made it to the civilian vocabulary

Our everyday vocabulary is littered with terms, phrases, idioms, and concepts drawn from different contexts—such as medicine, science, sports, politics, etc.—often altered or reinterpreted. The military world is no exception, and every day we use phrases that originated in war contexts or that were popularized by soldiers. Let’s have a look at some examples!

One of the most widespread phrases popularized by military use, this acronym originated not in the armed forces but in the dental hygiene field as part of a list of recommended abbreviations for secretaries. However, it was adopted by the military around the 1950s and widely used during the Korean War. While it was conceived to mean "as soon as practically possible", its use in the military context shifted its meaning to "immediately".

Have you ever described an ambiguous or unclear situation as "no man’s land"? Well, that phrase was initially used for actual land, and it is still used that way. Popularized during WWI as a descriptor of the barren land between opposing trenches, it had been in use for centuries for unoccupied or unclaimed wastelands, often in dispute among bordering jurisdictions. While we now often use it figuratively, it is used in its literal sense in conflict zones and territorial disputes.

Our modern life is hectic and filled with deadlines, but these, although important, don’t usually pose a threat to our lives. The original deadlines, though, were a different story. The phrase emerged during the American Civil War, and it referred to the boundary lines drawn around prisoner camps. Any prisoner who crossed the line was instantly shot, effectively making it a ‘deadline’. Luckily for us, its meaning has shifted to reflect a time limit.

If you ever wondered about the connection between coffee and someone named Joe, several theories claim to have the answer. The most popular one —although refuted by many historians— links it to Josephus "Joe" Daniels, famous for banning alcohol in the Navy, which allegedly popularized coffee as a substitute. A more likely theory points to the term ‘jamoke’ (a contraction of java + mocha), widely used in the military around the 1930s.

The color blue has traditionally been associated with melancholy, but military men might have had a hand in popularizing this idiom. Though blue flags currently carry a different meaning in nautical terminology, they were once used as a sign of mourning. If a ship’s captain or other high-ranking officer died at sea, their ship would fly a blue flag and paint a blue band around the hull, a custom that intertwined the color blue with sadness.

If we think about it, most of the time we say someone’s AWOL, a leave is not required. We are simply stating that we don’t know where they are or why they left. But the case is quite different for its military use. First recorded in the 18th century, it was used as a full phrase, although it eventually became an initialism around WWI and then an acronym around WWII. Still in use in the military, it carries a more dire meaning than in the civilian context.

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." All of us have invoked Murphy’s law at some point in our lives, but who’s Murphy? The answer takes us to a U.S. Air Force base and a series of rocket tests during the late 1940s. After several mishaps, aerospace engineer Edward A. Murphy famously exclaimed: "If there are two or more ways to do something and one of those results in a catastrophe, then someone will do it that way." Murphy’s frustration was later summarized at a conference as "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong", and the rest is history.

Most people wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this phrase is of military origin, but not many would be able to explain how it came to mean ‘understood’. During WWII, the American and British forces used the Able-Baker alphabet for radio communications, where Roger (and not Romeo) represented the R. ‘Roger’ meant your message had been received and understood. While most militaries later shifted to the NATO alphabet, the use of roger as ‘understood’ stuck and was popularized by its use in the Apollo lunar missions.

While not as commonly used as other phrases of military origin, most people know that if someone tells them "I got your six," it means they have their back. The phrase stems from WWI aviators using the 12-hour clock face to describe directions: 12 o’clock was the front, 6 o’clock the back, and 3 and 9 o’clock the sides. As a blind spot, the back was a pilot’s most vulnerable area, so a wingman who ‘got their six’ was always appreciated.

People telling a story about rambunctious children running amok would hardly imagine that this phrase has quite the violent origin. In Malay and Javanese cultures, amuk was used to describe warriors who launched frantic and violent attacks, often associated with a spiritual possession. The term was introduced into English by 16th-century European explorers, but it was Captain James Cook who popularized the phrase "run amok."

SPACE ODDITIES

The 10 Strangest Objects Ever Found in Space

Image: Greg Rakozy

The cosmos is incomprehensibly vast and full of mysteries. Despite our growing knowledge of its furthest reaches and curious phenomena, there is still much to discover. Space offers a treasure trove of strange and fascinating occurrences, from diamond planets to rogue stars and unexplained radio signals. Come aboard our spaceship as we explore 10 of the weirdest things humanity has ever encountered in deep space.

Image: Carlos Kenobi

Rogue planets are free-floating planetary-mass objects that don't orbit a star. These solitary wanderers drift through the galaxy, untethered and alone. Scientists believe they may have been ejected from their original star systems due to gravitational interactions or other dynamic processes.

Recent observations suggest that there might actually be a rogue planet lurking somewhere in the Oort Cloud, at the far reaches of our own solar system. If true, some argue it could be a Neptune-like planet from another solar system, captured a long time ago by the sun's gravity and that remained undetected until now.

Image: Casey Horner

Hypervelocity stars are stars that travel through space at speeds exceeding a million miles per hour. These speed demons are thought to be ejected from the centers of galaxies by violent interactions with supermassive black holes. Their incredible velocities make them some of the fastest (and most fascinating) objects in the universe.

Some of these stars have been observed exceeding the escape velocity of their home galaxy. One of the fastest known stars in the Milky Way is the O-class sub-dwarf US 708, which is currently moving away from the galactic center at a staggering 1,200 km/s. For context, the escape velocity of our galaxy is around 537 km/s.

Image: Guillermo Ferla

The Helix Nebula, often referred to as the "Eye of God," is a striking planetary nebula located about 650 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. This cosmic eye appears as a glowing, multi-colored ring with a blue-green center, resembling a giant eye staring back at us from the depths of space.

Actually, the Helix Nebula was formed from a dying star that has been shedding its outer layers into space for thousands of years. The intense ultraviolet radiation from the remnant core causes these gaseous layers to glow brightly, giving the nebula its distinctive appearance. Though beautiful, it is a relatively ephemeral phenomenon —on a cosmic timescale, of course. The central star will eventually cool and shrink into a white dwarf, while the nebula itself will gradually disperse over time.

Image: NASA Hubble Space Telescope

If you're unfamiliar with the Boomerang Nebula, its intriguing bowtie shape (it is also known as the Bow Tie Nebula) will undoubtedly catch your eye. However, it is not just its shape that makes it remarkable, as it happens to be one of the most unique places in the universe due to its extremely low temperature.

The Boomerang Nebula is the coldest place in the universe, with temperatures dipping to just one degree above absolute zero, making it even colder than the surrounding space. Contrary to what one might imagine about a rapidly expanding ball of gas and plasma expelled from a star, the seemingly fiery spectacle is frigidly cold. Surprisingly, this is due to the expansion itself, which causes the ejected material to cool down intensely.

Image: Graham Holtshausen

Dragonfly 44 is one of the most mysterious places we've ever discovered in known space. While its estimated mass is comparable to that of the Milky Way, it contains very few stars, making it almost invisible. This intriguing cosmic puzzle was solved when scientists realized that almost 99% of the galaxy must be composed of the elusive dark matter.

Although dark matter is still not entirely understood, the concept was devised to explain why galaxies that don’t seem to have enough observable mass to stay together don't come apart during rotation. However, the existence of this type of galaxy has caused a stir in the scientific community, as most predictions didn't account for this phenomenon.

Image: Jorge Salvador

Not exactly an object, but nonetheless one of the most fascinating phenomena encountered while probing the depths of space with radio telescopes. The Wow! Signal, detected in 1977 by the Big Ear radio telescope, is a strong, narrowband radio signal.

Lasting just 72 seconds, its strange regularity and the fact that it has no known terrestrial or cosmic source make it one of the most intriguing potential signs of extraterrestrial intelligence ever recorded. The name originates from the astronomer who first discovered it, who famously scribbled "Wow!" next to the printout of the signal's intensity.

Image: Samuel PASTEUR-FOSSE

Located in the vicinity of the constellation Cygnus, Tabby's Star is one of the most intriguing space phenomena out there. This distant star displays irregular and dramatic fluctuations in brightness that defy easy explanation based on its observable surroundings and orbit.

These anomalies have led some scientists to speculate about the presence of an alien megastructure—a hypothetical concept known as a Dyson sphere—encompassing a significant portion of the star and causing its intermittent dimming. Such a structure could theoretically harness the star's energy almost completely. However, most researchers consider a more mundane explanation (like planetary debris or dust clouds) to be far more probable.

Image: NASA Hubble Space Telescope

The first interstellar object ever spotted passing through our solar system, Oumuamua was discovered in 2017 by the Pan-STARRS telescope at the Haleakalā Observatory in Hawaii (hence its name, which means "scout" in Hawaiian).

Its elongated shape and unusual trajectory sparked a heated debate about its origin, with some speculating it could be an alien probe. Complicating matters further, the object exhibited non-gravitational acceleration, implying it was accelerating on its own. While this could be attributed to solar pressure or outgassing, no conclusive evidence has been gathered to fully explain its peculiar behavior. Nevertheless, Oumuamua remains our most enigmatic visitor from another star system, alien or not.

Image: NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Zombie stars, known scientifically as "recurrent novae," are white dwarfs that undergo repeated supernova-like explosions. These massive outbursts fail to completely destroy the star's core, allowing it to reignite and restart the explosive cycle, challenging our understanding of stellar evolution.

Typically found in binary star systems, zombie stars can draw hydrogen from a companion star, effectively resurrecting themselves. Over time, these undead stars accumulate enough material to trigger a nova explosion once again.

Image: Daniele Levis Pelusi

Ever dreamed of a planet made almost entirely of diamonds? Well, you might be in luck. Diamond planets are theoretical exoplanets primarily composed of carbon, with significant portions of their mass being in the form of diamond.

These sparkling worlds are thought to form around carbon-rich stars. One potential candidate is 55 Cancri e, a super-Earth in a nearby star system. However, even the most die-hard of diamond fans might find this planet too extreme, as it orbits extremely close to its star, with surface temperatures reaching a scorching 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit.