Pissing Off the Islamic State: What’s in a name?

Last week, we launched a fun little contest on Twitter (and if you don’t follow us yet, you should @WarontheRocks). We noted that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) absolutely hates being called “Daesh” – a word formed by the acronym of their Arabic name. So we asked our followers: what other names would annoy ISIL? We offered War on the Rocks coffee mugs to the top three.
Well, our judges have decided and, since there is a tie for third place, there are four winners. There are…
First Place: Peter W. Singer of the New America Foundation
https://twitter.com/peterwsinger/status/514781884501749761
Second Place: Ryan P. McCarthy
https://twitter.com/Ryan_PMccarthy/status/514776932865433600
Third Place (a): Global Bearings
https://twitter.com/Global_Bearings/status/515223134124146689
Third Place (b): Nathan Burmeister
https://twitter.com/helpmeimapencil/status/515174701589491712
Honorable Mention (but no coffee mug): GDW
https://twitter.com/gdwmsttj/status/515536346665189377
Thank you all for participating! And fairly soon, you’ll all be able to purchase War on the Rocks coffee mugs, and shirts, and flasks and more on our online store.