The release of thousands of emails from Hillary Clinton’s time as Secretary of State hasn’t just opened a window into her political decisions, it’s also revealed how she talks.
A number of emails from Clinton to her closest staffers show a private lingo, often a form of shorthand to make typing easier on a smartphone but also the kind of personal references people who work closely together develop.
Here’s a short glossary of some common Hillaryisms:
are you awake: Subject line of any email sent past 10 p.m. or so. Nothing else is in the email so that if the recipient is asleep, they don’t feel pressured to respond at 2 a.m.
berry: Clinton’s BlackBerry.
Diane Reynolds: A pseudonym used by Chelsea Clinton when checking into hotels and also for her email address on Hillary Clinton’s homemade server.
hPad: Clinton’s iPad.
HRod: A nickname for Hillary Rodham Clinton, based on one of her email addresses, hrod17@clintonemail.com. Presumably a play on A-Rod, the nickname for New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez.
kidlet: Children. State Department staffer Cheryl Mills often referred to her children as “kidlets” in emails to Clinton.
pls print: A request for a staffer to print out an email, often the text of a longer news story, presumably so that she can read it.
WJC: Hillary Clinton’s husband, former President William Jefferson Clinton. State Department staffers often referred to Bill Clinton by his initials, though Hillary usually just called him Bill.
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