David Vine / American University

Access posture

About

Words about War Matter: A Language Guide for Discussing War and Foreign Policy is a guide for writing and talking about war and foreign policy “more accurately, more honestly, and in ways people outside the Washington, DC foreign policy ‘blob’ can understand.” It targets “dehumanizing euphemisms, bloodless jargon, little-known government acronyms, and troubling metaphors that hide warfare’s damage,” pairing each with plainer alternatives — for example, “Pentagon spending” or “military spending” in place of “defense spending.” The guide explicitly invites readers to “use and share this guide and adapt it to local contexts.”

The guide comes in two forms (both version 2, May 2025): a two-page short version and a longer full-length version that adds explanations and further guidance. It is led by David Vine (American University) and, per its own credit line, was “produced with support from American University, Concordia University, University of California–Irvine and the War Prevention Initiative of the Jubitz Family Foundation.” In the commons it is a source for war and foreign-policy framing terms.

Access

Host posture is private-mirror-link-out: the guide is published openly at wordsaboutwar.org, which the commons links to while keeping a private preservation copy. The guide explicitly invites readers to “use and share this guide and adapt it to local contexts.”

Data note: the source URL was corrected from a non-resolving wordsaboutwarmatter.org to the guide’s canonical wordsaboutwar.org, confirmed live 2026-05-30.