Dictionaries adding new war slang

Bryan Mitchell writes in the mideast edition of Stars & Stripes about new war words being added to the dictionary. He interviewed Cormac McKeown, editor at the London-based Collins English Dictionary. The publication updates its word lists every two years, this time adding words or phrases used by U.K. and U.S. soldiers in battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here’s sampler:

beast (v) (slang, chiefly British) — to punish or torture (someone) in a manner that involves excessive physical exercise.
de-Baathification (n) — the process of removing the members and influence of the Baath Party from public office in Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.
Gitmo (n) — Guantanamo: referring more specifically to the detainment camp run here by the U.S. military, in which suspected terrorists are detained and questioned.
narcoterrorism (n) — terrorism funded by the sale of illegal drugs.

thermobaric (adj.) — (of an explosive device or explosion) detonated by means of an explosive substance reacting spontaneously with air.
exhibition killing (n) — the murder of a hostage by terrorists, filmed for broadcasting on television or the Internet.

On this side of the Atlantic, Merriam-Webster has also added these:

burka (n) — a loose enveloping garment that covers the face and body and is worn in public by certain Muslim women.
hijab (n) — the traditional covering for the hair and neck that is worn by Muslim women.
IED (abbr) — improvised explosive device.
RPG (abbr) — rocket-propelled grenade.

Not many will weather the test of time, although snafu coined in World War II is still listed in Merriam-Webster.