depersonalize
v.— «In military jargon, the city has been “depersonalized”—districts are given American names like “Queens” to replace their Iraqi names.» —“Another Iwo Jima?” by Rory McCarthy in Baghdad, Iraq Salon Nov. 9, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A California listener shares a couple of pranks from her time in the U.S. Marines, where unsuspecting recruits would be ordered to complete impossible tasks. She remembers that newbies would be sent to retrieve a bucket of frequency grease or a...
What do you call a long sandwich filled with lots of ingredients? Whether you call it a sub, a hoagie, a grinder, or something else entirely depends on where you’re from. And: Martha’s visit to an Alaskan reindeer ranch reveals why you...