I think the West is the only place calling them ISIS; the Middle East and elsewhere calls them Daesh. Here’s the thing: Daesh hate being called Daesh. Daesh wants to be called the Islamic State because Daesh thinks it gives them legitimacy and validity. Plus, Daesh is very insulting to them, so I think we should call Daesh Daesh as a fuck you to Daesh.

What does Daesh mean?

Technically, Daesh is an acronym for their full name in Arabic (al-Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham), but it also sounds very similar to Arabic words meaning “one who crushes things underfoot” and “one who sows discord” (“daes” and “dahes”, respectively) so that’s why Arabs like to call them that.