A recent tweet from the US Department of Defense boasted about the military’s killing capabilities with the phrase: “Low cortisol. Locked in. Lethalitymaxxing.” To many, this sounds as indecipherable as teenagers discussing “high-tier Beckys” or The New York Times warning about “Tate-pilled” boys.
Many have now seen the viral tweet from February 6, viewed over 24 million times and dissected in countless analyses and explainers. It read:
“Clavicular was mid jestergooning when a group of Foids came and spiked his Cortisol levels. Is ignoring the Foids while munting and mogging Moids more useful than SMV chadfishing in the club?”
By 2026, this kind of language is appearing more frequently, from America’s most prominent newspaper to the highest levels of the US government. Why has this distorted way of speaking become so normalized?
It begins with the rise of “incels”—men who identify as “involuntarily celibate” and often blame women for their situation. Spread through online forums like 4chan, a major source of Gen Z slang, this language has entered the mainstream due to algorithms, in-jokes, and a Trump administration attuned to these communities’ vernacular.
In recent months, the rise of Braden Peters, known as Clavicular—the subject of the viral tweet—has forced the outside world to confront the dizzying breadth of this vocabulary and recognize how it has seeped into even offline culture. “I’ve been tracking trending incel language since 2022, and I am seeing more of a spike in the past few months than I think I have in my entire career,” says Adam Aleksic, a linguist and author of the 2025 book Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language.
Aleksic notes that current slang has two main sources: African American Vernacular English and 4chan, the anonymous online forum where incel communities have thrived. This slang serves as a way to demonstrate “in-group proficiency,” he explains.
Daria Bahtina, a linguistics lecturer at UCLA, agrees. “The density of the vocabulary is not accidental,” she writes in an email. “Highly specific, rapidly evolving slang creates in-group cohesion by making comprehension contingent on being ‘in the loop.'” The same applies to meme culture as a whole. “I’ve had Gen Z students tell me that if they step away from platforms for a month, they need time to ‘re-learn’ what certain references mean,” she says. “Opacity is built into the system.”
This opacity can also make it difficult to pull someone out of what Aleksic describes as the “cultlike” community. “It’s harder for an outsider to relate to you, to convince you to leave inceldom, because they’re not even speaking your language.”
Incels significantly overlap with another online group: “looksmaxxers.” Clavicular apparently takes his nickname from the width of his clavicle (19.5 inches), which he believes is a sign of beauty. He has been called the “first star” of the looksmaxxing community.
Looksmaxxers are men who prioritize their appearance above all else and are willing to take extreme measures to enhance it. Clavicular’s fame, built on lengthy live streams and social media, is tied to the alarming lengths he’s willing to go for his looks: he claims to take methamphetamine to suppress his appetite and has endorsed hitting one’s own face with a hammer to achieve optimal attractiveness. He has also sung Kanye West’s “Heil Hitler” with Andrew Tate and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, appeared to hit someone with his truck on a live stream, and frequently used the N-word—though he told…The Times argued it was “dumb” to think the looksmaxxing community, which seems to value whiteness in its pursuit of physical perfection, is racist. Incels and looksmaxxers are part of online spaces filled with misogyny, which is reflected in their slang. For example, “foids” refers to female humanoids, or what most people would call women. (“Moids” is the male version, used for lower-status men.) According to Aleksic, looksmaxxers are driven by a nihilistic “blackpill” mindset, believing that looks alone determine sexual success.
Aidan Walker, a researcher and writer on internet culture, notes that curiosity is a powerful hook for social media content. “So if you can make someone say ‘What the fuck?’ that’s a successful social media post,” he says.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the viral tweet, based on explanations from Aleksic and others: “Jestergooning” mixes “jestermaxxing”—trying to boost your appeal by being funny—and “gooning,” which originally referred to masturbation but can also mean engaging in mind-numbing behavior. “Munting” means doing unattractive things, like jaw exercises, for long-term appearance gains, while “mogging” is about emasculating other men by being more attractive. “SMV” stands for sexual market value, and “chadfishing” is tricking people into thinking you’re more attractive than you really are.
So, the tweet translates roughly (and offensively) to: Clavicular was acting silly when some female subhumans annoyed him. Is it better to ignore these female subhumans while joking around and putting down the lower-status men nearby, or to pretend to be a high-value guy at the club?
Clavicular earns over $100,000 a month from streaming, but Walker believes it’s not just about the money—virality itself is a form of social currency. “Nowadays, popularity is measured by engagement from friends through texts, likes, followers, and Snapchat streaks,” Walker writes. In an interview, he adds that all this “becomes the literal evidence you have of your own existence, your impact, your value,” part of a “desperate quest for legibility.”
This drive for virality has pushed terms like “looksmaxxing” from incel circles into the mainstream, making the “-maxxing” suffix everywhere. Recently, for instance, the Department of Homeland Security told John Oliver it was “homelandmaxxing by removing illegal aliens.” As Nitsuh Abebe writes in The Times, many who use the term may not know its incel origins. But Walker suspects Trump’s social media team likely does. “A lot of these Trump administration guys certainly didn’t learn that word in the past few weeks,” he says. Instead, they’re “thirtysomething-year-olds who were those 4chan forum kids back in the early 2010s.”
Looksmaxxers and the administration share a embrace of a harsh, brutal masculinity—and a disdain for institutions and empathy. “You’re hitting yourself in the face with a hammer. That feels very manly. It’s very strong,” Walker says. When such behavior gets views online, it’s seen as proof of “how bullshit your opponents are”—how bullshit “every mom, teacher, guidance counselor, therapist in America really is, and that’s who they see themselves as against: that institutional voice.”
Clavicular’s political views are hard to pin down, if he has any at all. He told the Daily Wire he would vote for Gavin Newsom over JD Vance “100 times over” based solely on appearance: Vance is “subhuman … whereas Newsom is like a six-foot-three Chad” who “mogs.”That nihilistic view “reflects the disillusionment that all politics is nonsense. And I think Trump has always kind of fed on that,” Walker says.
Should those of us who generally support mothers, teachers, and therapists be worried about looksmaxxing language going mainstream? For example, when writing about the word “foid” in 2023, Aleksic thought it would never reach the mainstream—it was a harsh slur against women, too grotesque to be widely used. Now, however, “it’s taken on this ironic usage that didn’t used to exist,” he says.
In a recent Atlantic article, writer Charlie Warzel calls nihilism “the new lingua franca of the internet”: “A kind of post-ironic fatalism that was once confined to seedy message boards has bled into the broader culture, changing how people communicate.” The language of 4chan, incel culture, and looksmaxxing—where nothing matters but clicks and sexual market value—is a key part of this. Are we doomed to live in a meaningless digital void?
“I don’t think algorithms or AI or social media have to go down that route,” Walker says. “Different choices could be made.” He adds, “I think there’s a way we can maybe bake care into some of these structures, bake agency and autonomy into them. Because a lot of people are just sitting around drowning in a pool of slop, and there’s nobody helping them.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the intersection of military communication and the adoption of slang from online subcultures like the incel community
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What does the Pentagon mean by maximizing combat effectiveness
It means the military is focused on making its forces as capable lethal and efficient as possible in battle This includes training technology strategy and the mindset of personnel
2 What is the incel community and what is its slang
Incel stands for involuntary celibate Its an online subculture often characterized by extreme misogyny resentment and a sense of victimhood Its slang includes terms like Chad Stacy blackpill and looksmaxxing
3 Why is this even a topic Is the military promoting this
No the military is not promoting it The topic arises because some service members particularly young men online have been observed using this slang Analysts are concerned about how extremist ideologies can infiltrate the ranks and undermine unit cohesion which is critical to combat effectiveness
4 How could online slang affect something as serious as the military
Language shapes thought and culture Slang from hatebased communities can normalize toxic attitudes erode trust between male and female service members and create divisions within a unit A divided unit is a less effective fighting force
Advanced Practical Questions
5 Isnt this just young people using edgy internet humor Why overreact
While some may use it ironically the underlying ideology is explicitly violent and misogynistic The military must take it seriously because it can be a gateway to radicalization posing insider threats and security risks Its about the ideology not just the words
6 What specific problems does this slang and mindset create for combat effectiveness
Erosion of Cohesion The military relies on absolute trust and brotherhoodsisterhood Misogyny destroys that bond
Discipline Issues It fosters resentment against authority and female leaders
