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

Naming-ISIS-2

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.