So, a recent discussion on Twitter has reminded me that the military is a subculture, and that means having quite a few -isms that aren't immediately clear to folks who aren't part of that subculture.

One area where this tends to come up is with what I will politely call "military enthusiasts." You know the type, they know all sorts of stuff about the military, their kit, battles they've been in, they might even own tactical gear and surplus kit or weapons.

Like with any other subculture, the mil enthusiast sub includes some weirdos and assholes and dorks (just like the military!) but some truly weird interactions happen when the two subs run into each other.

I mentioned -isms before, basically shorthand for customs and courtesies, norms and mores, etc. specific to a culture. Not always apparent to outsiders. Walk into a student center at most college campuses with your hat on, whatever. Do it at Texas A&M, you'll get shouted at.

In the military, one -ism is trash talk. We do a lot of it. Between branches and between specialities and between friends. Front-line grunts vs POGs, maintainers vs nonners, etc.

So a mil enthusiast might think to do the same, say, calling someone out for being a POG, and is suddenly startled and confused to realize everyone has singled them out for not-very-kind-hearted mockery, because they just charged head-first into a big taboo,

because what they just did wasn't seen as calling someone out for being a POG, it's seen as claiming the status of a Grunt, the folks who normally do that sort of thing.

That's right, the mil enthusiast has just committed Cultural Appropriation, and now he's getting dunked on like a Corgi at an NBA game.

Because not being a part of that subculture, he was understandably unaware of that sub's -isms, while not knowing what he didn't know.