So it's bizarre to me, that the act of dropping a nuclear bomb on something, has any shorthand at all...(nuke)

Surely, abbreviations and slang exist to make common phrases easier to say due to their high frequency of usage.

Contrast that with "nuking" something. An event that has happened precisely two times in active warfare.

#ItSaysSomethingAboutHowViolentHumansAreThatWeTalkSoMuchAboutSomethingSoRareThatWeNeedAShorthandForIt
#IHaveZeroInterestInWarJustAnOddThoughtForTheDay