War of Attrition

I came across the phrase 'war of attrition' the other day. I'd heard it before, but didn't know exactly what it meant. I assumed that it meant a war in which each party tried to outlast the other.

Attrition warfare is a military strategy in which a belligerent side attempts to win a war by wearing down its enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and materiel.

Basically ... like doing a PhD.

On one side is my committee with endless requests for revisions, the university and its seemingly nonsensical deadlines, the lack of funding (a fancy word for 'pay cheque'), the long hours working in isolation ...I'm pretty sure these conditions qualify as torture (although not under Cheney's reign ;-). On the other side is me, chipping away at my thesis line by line, reading, wheedling and wearing down my committee's reserves.

Of course, like every perfect metaphor, somebody else thought of it first.

"Doing a PhD may be more like a war of attrition than a single heroic assault; knowledge of the territory and tenacity may be just as important qualities as strategy or intellectual firepower."

- Marshall and Green, Your PhD Companion, p. 151.

Touché and may the best side win!