Barry’s Blog # 301: Military Madness – The Unacknowledged Metaphors in Our Daily Speech, Part Two of Four

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. – Jack London

No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman in anger…So we have to just change the culture. Period. And keep punching at it and punching at it and punching at it. – Joe Biden

Here is a list of martial metaphors (followed by some sports names) that I’ve compiled. Its sheer size, more than any analysis, may help you realize how often you use some of them and why we all need to be conscious of our speech. After that, we can think about alternatives.

Above and beyond the call of duty

Advance

All-out assault

All hands on deck

Armed with knowledge

Ammunition for arguing

Armoring

Arsenal

Attacking my subject

AWOL

Banging

Battle of the Bands

Battle Royale

Battleground states

Bazooka Gum

Beachhead

Besiege

Big guns

Bite the bullet

Blast from the Past

Blitz

Blockade

Blockbuster

Bombshell of a report

Blonde bombshell

Bloodbath

Blow them out of the water

Blown away

(The) Bomb

Bomb (theatrically)

Bombarding with facts

(A) Booming voice

Boot camp for computers; rehab; diabetics; weight loss; etc

Boot camp for Light Workers

Boots on the ground

Break a leg

Bring out the heavy artillery

Broadside

Bullet point; Bullet train; Bulletproof plan; Dodging a bullet

Burning one’s bridges

Call to arms

Camouflage

Canon for an arm

Canon ball dive

Ceasefire

Changing of the guard

Clarion call

Collateral damage

Conquest of nature

Coup de grace

Courageous battle against cancer

Cowboys and Indians

Cowboy up

Crossfire

Crosshairs

Crusade

(A) crush on her

Crushing it

Culture wars

Cutting contest (Jazz)

Deadline

Dead End; Dead Man’s Curve, Hand, Island, etc

Decimated

Deserter

Destroying the opposition

Devastated

Doctor’s orders

Doing some damage

Dressed to kill

Dud

Earning your stripes

Economic Hit Man

Enemy

Fight fire with fire

Fighting the good fight

Firestorm

Firing blanks

Firing line

 

Flank

Foxhole

Front and Center

Front lines of the debate

Fruits of war

FUBAR

Get us over the top

Go for broke

Half-cocked

Hammered

Happy warrior

Hard-hitting

Hard-liner

Have your back

Hired gun

Hit record; baseball hit; website hit

Hit the mark

Home run blast

Hostile takeover

I love him to death

In the heat of battle

In the trenches

Incoming fire

Invasion of cancer cells

IPO launch

Itchy trigger finger

It’s a losing battle

Join the ranks

Judicial arms race

Kick-ass performance

Killer app

Killing it, making a killing

Knock ’em dead

Knock yourself out

Launched (offspring)

Line in the sand

Lock, stock and barrel

Locked and loaded

Loose cannon

Love bomb; Love drive-by

Main thrust of the argument

Man up

 

Marching as one; together; in unison; in step

March of progress

Marshalling the troops

Miss-fire

Missing in action

Mobilize

Nailed it

No holds barred

No man’s land

No quarter

Nuclear option

(That’s) Over the top

Pass muster

Penetrating insight

Photo bomb

(She’s a) pistol

Police your room

Pounding a beer

Powder keg

Pulverize

Punchline; beat to the punch

Punch it (through a yellow traffic light)

Push comes to shove

Rally the troops

(Corporate) Raiders

Rank and file

Rising up the charts like a bullet

Roger and out

Salvation Army

Salvo

Seeds of destruction

Shot: photograph, basketball, line-drive

(A) shot at success

(Give me your best) shot; (Good) shot!

Shot over the bow; Shot in the dark; Shot down

Shot at fame / love / success, etc

Shots of vodka, tequila, etc

Shoot from the hip

Shoot a text / email

Shoot the moon

Shooting down the opposition, shooting back

Shooting star

Shooters (drinks); Shooters Restaurant

Silver bullet

Slam dunk

Slash emissions

Slay

Smokescreen

Smoking gun

SNAFU

Soldiers of the Lord

Soldier on

Sound off

Spartan(s)

Stand tall

Stick to your guns

Stoned

Sweating bullets

Tackling the problem

Take liberties

Take no prisoners

Taking the internet by storm

Target

Task force

This is my rifle, this is my gun; one is for killing, one is for fun.

This means war!

Three-point bomb

Throw everything we’ve got at this problem

Throwing firebombs

Time bomb

To the hilt

Top gun

Triggering; pulling the trigger; trigger warnings

Troops, trooper

Truce

Tweet bomb

Under fire

Under the gun

Up against the wall

Up in arms

Vaccine shot

Waging peace

War on drugs; cancer; poverty; Christmas

War room

War zone

Warriors (spiritual)

 

Weaponize

Weekend Warriors

Within striking distance

 

And a few college sports nicknames:

(ASA College) Avengers

(Ohio Wesleyan) Battlin’ Bishops

(Thomas Moore College) Blue Rebels

(Lutheran Bible School) Conquerors

(Eastern Kentucky) Colonels and Lady Colonels

(Fla. Nat. Univ.) Conquistadors

(Holy Cross) Crusaders

(Dordt College) Defenders

(St. Ambrose) Fighting Bees

(N. Dakota) Fighting Hawks

(Kalamazoo) Fighting Hornets

(Illinois) Fighting Illini

(W. Illinois) Fighting Leathernecks

(Muskingum) Fighting Muskies

(N.C. Arts) Fighting Pickles

(Wilmington Col.) Fighting Quakers (!)

(Carrol College) Fighting Saints

(Ohio Valley) Fighting Scots

(Mary Baldwin College) Fighting Squirrels

(Wash. & Lee) Generals

(McDaniel College) Green Terror

(CA Maritime) Keelhaulers

(Arcadia) Knights; (Army) Black Knights

(Massachusetts) Minutemen

(New England) Patriots

(U. Hawaii) Rainbow Warriors

(Oakland) Raiders

(Texas) Rangers

(Texas Tech) Red Raiders

(Mississippi) Rebels

(UNLV) Runnin’ Rebels

(San Jose St.) Spartans

(USC) Trojans

(Minnesota) Vikings

(Auburn) Warhawks

(Golden State) Warriors

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Read Part Three here.