# Anybody tired of "shock & awe" yet? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380 "2003-03-22T16:14:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/1 "2003-03-22T16:14:03Z")
Not the campaign itself – that’s in a couple other threads – but the way the Talking Heads have seized on the phrase and use it incessantly. I’m gonna start keeping count. It sounds like something from _Babylon 5_. “The Narns and the Shokinah have formed an alliance and are attacking Centauri Prime!” Give it a rest. DD ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/2 "2003-03-22T17:17:34Z")
I was watching the news last night and the NBC reporter kept telling Tom Brokaw, “Shock and awe, Tom–shock and awe.” What idiot _names_ these things?! Couldn’t they have come up with something better? “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” maybe? “Burns and Allen?” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/3 "2003-03-22T18:24:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Anybody tired of “shock & awe” yet? Well I would imagine the citizens of Baghdad are pretty tuckered with it at this point. ---
**Author:** ![raisinbread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@raisinbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raisinbread)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/4 "2003-03-22T19:30:18Z")
Is there any meaningful difference between the term “shock and awe” and “blitzkrieg” in application? No, I’m not trying to be a mewling peacenik. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/5 "2003-03-22T23:10:42Z")
Not that I can think of raisinbread, but blitzkrieg carries that pesky nazi association so the government had to update it. If you ask me, this whole war is just a tired retread of the original Gulf War. All that “bombs eye view” footage is so nineties.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/6 "2003-03-23T01:06:18Z")
Frankly, I am neither shocked or awed at this point. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/7 "2003-03-23T01:16:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\*Well I would imagine the citizens of Baghdad are pretty tuckered with it at this point. \*\* I have no doubt about that. Thought of putting that comment in the OP but decided against it. The main point was the way broadcast journalists were on that phrase like a terrier on a rat and aren’t letting go. I’m getting about 20 counts an hour on Fox, which is less than I thought – three minutes average between uses. They do cluster, though, which makes it seem like more. DD ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/8 "2003-03-23T01:29:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by raisinbread \* > **Is there any meaningful difference between the term “shock and awe” and “blitzkrieg” in application?** Actually, “Shock and Awe” is the name of a book > [@](#): > > _from book review on [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com)_ > \*\*Setting aside considerations of the violence visited on civilians and non-combatants or the damage done to infrastructure, Hitler suggested that inducing “shock and awe” through his “lightning war” system would lead to rapid military victories… > > Interesting reading, although it rambles a bit and blitzkrieg is often misspelled.\*\* [ul]😃 [sup] **No, peacenik here, either.** [/sup][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/9 "2003-03-23T02:02:15Z")
Do what I do: adopt the James Lileks pronunciation–“shockenaw”–and use that instead of Chaka Khan in that song. Like this: _Shockenaw, shockenaw_ _Shockenaw, shockenaw_ _Shockenaw, let me love you, let me love you, shockenaw_ etc., etc. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/10 "2003-03-23T02:09:42Z")
I was tired of the phrase about the 2nd time I heard one of the reporters use it. They must get some sort of commission for every time they say it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/11 "2003-03-23T13:55:27Z")
I’m picturing Condoleezza Rice doing a remake of Amii Stewart’s “Knock on Wood” _I said it’s like thunder It’s like lightning The way we invade is frightening I think we better shock, shock, shock and awe I think we better shock, shock, shock and awe I think we better shock, shock, shock and awe I think we better shock, shock, shock and awe Baghdad, baby, oooo-oo-oo-oo-oo_ ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/12 "2003-03-23T16:56:13Z")
One of the “journalists” in a press conference actually referred to “Shock and Awe” as a “show”! Needless to say, Victoria Clarke promptly handed his ass back to him. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/13 "2003-03-23T20:41:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by raisinbread \* > \*\*Is there any meaningful difference between the term “shock and awe” and “blitzkrieg” in application? \*\* “Blitzkrieg” (a word, by the way, invented by the English, not the Germans) means a type of combined arms approach to war that was new in 1940 but is standard operating procedure for all modern armies today; using a combination of armored assaults and air attack to break holes in the enemy line, then punch through and attack rear areas and cut off enemy formations at the front. It was amazing in 1940, I guess; by 1942 it was in the doctrine of just about every army that owned a tank. This much-hyped “shock and awe” thing appears to refer primarily to aerial bombardment. OF course, both are examples of the military concept of “shock,” whereby rapid, rear-area attacks can cause entire military formations to fall apart just by sheer disorganization and confusion. It’s an old concept; actually beating the enemy isn’t nearly as important as CONVINCING him he’s been beaten. Three hundred years ago you did it with cavalry and cannon. ---
**Author:** ![Kezermezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b487fb/32.png) [@Kezermezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kezermezer)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-tired-of-shock-awe-yet/163380/14 "2003-03-23T21:35:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DesertDog \* > **It sounds like something from _Babylon 5_. "The Narns and the Shokinah have formed an alliance and are attacking Centauri Prime!"** I thought the same thing the first time I heard it. I don’t watch the news much myself unless my husband’s got it on, and when I first heard them say it I asked him “What’s Chaukanah?” I had heard the shock and awe thing a couple times but they said it so quick I thought “chaukanah” was something else.