CB slang - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 08/05/11 10:58
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CB slang
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CB slang (commonly called "CB Talk") are terms that those operating CB radio used mainly during the CB
craze of the 1970s and 1980s. Some of these slang terms are still in use with their original meanings, others
not used at all and some have changed meaning. This list shows the historical meanings.
Contents
1 Popular slang terms
1.1 Popular terms for law enforcement officers
1.1.1 Australia
1.2 Other popular terms
2 References
3 See also
Popular slang terms
Popular terms for law enforcement officers
"Bear" – a law officer. The terms "Smokey" & "Bear" are both direct references to Smokey Bear, a
character image commonly seen along U.S. highways. He wears a flat-brimmed forest ranger's hat very
similar to the hat included in many highway patrol uniforms in the U.S.
"Bear Cave" / "Bear's Den" / "Bear's Lair" – a police station.
"Bear / Smokey in a plain brown wrapper" – a law officer in an unmarked police car. The term "plain
white wrapper" is sometimes used, depending on the color of the vehicle.
"Bear in the air" / "Fly in the sky" / "Spy in the sky" – a police aircraft. While state police often use
fixed-wing airplanes to monitor highway traffic, "fly" refers specifically to a helicopter.
"Bear in the grass" / "Smokey in the bush" – a speed trap.
"Bear with ears" – a police officer listening to others on the CB
"Blue Light" / "Blue Light Special" – a law enforcement vehicle, especially with a stopped motorist.
"Chicken coop" – a weigh station. "Locked up" / "clean" (ex: "the chicken coop is clean.") means the
station is closed.
"City Kitty" / "City Bear" - Refers to local law enforcement monitoring a particular stretch of
interstate which runs through their jurisdiction.
"Convoy" - a group of 3 or more truckers in a line, usually exceeding the speed limit.
"County Mountie" – a Sheriff's deputy car.
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"Diesel Cop" / "D.O.T. Bear" – State Department of Transportation personnel, usually enforcing
weight limits and safety rules ( brakes & tires).
"Disco Lights" – the flashing emergency lights of a law enforcement vehicle.
"Evel Knievel" – cop on a motorcycle.
"Full-Grown" / "Full Grown Bear" – a state policeman/trooper.
"Gum ball machine" / "bubble gum machine" – refers to a popular style of rotating mirror light used
by many state police and some other law enforcement agencies at the time, however the term can refer
to any law enforcement vehicle. It looked somewhat like the round style of 'penny' gumball machines.
It was basically a clear cylinder, like an upside down jar, with lights and a spinning mirror system
inside. It was usually mounted on the center of the roof.
"Hacker" – person or individual operating a radio transmission without regard for standard rules or
etiquette.
"Leo" – short for Law Enforcement Officer
"Local yokel" / "City Kitty" / "Town Clown" – a law officer with a city or township police force,
seldom encountered on interstate highways.
"Mama Bear" – a female law enforcement officer.
"Miss Piggy" – a pejorative term for a female law enforcement officer.
"Picture-taker" / "Smokey taking pictures" / "Smokey bear is taking a picture" / "Kojak with a
Kodak" – a law officer monitoring traffic with a radar gun. Today, this can also refer to an automated
speed camera.
"Radio Car" / "Super Trooper" - Either a marked or unmarked state trooper vehicle sporting
additional antenna on the trunk or sides of the vehicle.
"Smokey" – a law officer. A "smokey report" is what CB users say when they have information on a
law officer, such as location or current activities.
"Plain brown wrapper"-an unmarked highway patrol car- no emblems or lights on top, of any color,
although the generic "brown" may be changed to the actual color of car, example - "plain black
wrapper"
Australia
"Candy Car" – Highway Patrol Police Car usually with high-visibility Police decals (Australia)
"Flash for Cash" – Speed Camera (Australia)
Other popular terms
"Anteater" – a Kenworth T600/T660 tractor, because of the long sloping tilt up hood.
"Baboon Butt" – a Kenworth T2000 tractor, because of the grille styling.
"Back door" – the area behind a vehicle. To say "I got your back door" means that someone is
watching another's back. "Knocking at your back door" means approaching from behind.
"Badger Bound" – Wisconsin Bound Highway Traffic.
"Band-aid Buggy" / "Bone Box" / "Meat Wagon" – Ambulance.
"Bear Bait" - An erratic or speeding driver.[1]
"Bear bite" - A speeding ticket.
"Beaver" — a woman
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"Big road" – interstate highway, as opposed to smaller highways and city streets.
"Bob-tail" – a semi-tractor operating without a trailer.
"Breaker" – telling other CB users that you'd like to start a transmission on a channel. May be
succeeded by either the channel number, indicating that anyone may acknowledge ("One-nine" refers
to channel 19, the most widely used among truck drivers), or by a specific "handle", which is
requesting a particular individual to respond.
"Bubble City" - Champaign, IL
"Bulldog" – a Mack Tractor, noted for the bulldog hood ornament.
"Buster Brown" – a United Parcel Service truck.
"Cash Box" - refers to a toll booth or toll plaza
"Cheese Wagon" - A School Bus
"Swiss Cheese Wagon" - A school activity bus. So called because they are usually painted white.
"Half Cheese" - A short school bus, usually for handicapped children
"Little Cheese" - A small school bus, usually built on a 1-ton van chassis (aka cutaway).
"Chicken coop" or "Coop" - refers to weigh stations
"Coloring Book" or "Comic Book" - A truckers log book.[2]
"Covered Wagon" – a trailer that resembles a Covered Wagon of the old west, normally used for
carrying steel rolls.
"Come back" – a request for someone to acknowledge a transmitted message or reply to a question.
"Comedian" - refers to the median between a divided highway.
"Cornbinder" – a Navistar International truck (formerly International Harvester).
"Crotch-Rocket Cowboy" - refers to an individual in a sports car driving recklessly. Usually used as a
warning to other drivers to watch for erratic behaviour.
"Dead-heading" – a truck operating with an empty trailer.
"Double Nickel" – the 55 mph speed limit for trucks.
"Driver" – a polite form of address used when you don't know someone's on-the-air nickname. (see
"handle")
"Ears" – CB radio (ex: how bout ya JB, got ya ears on)
"Fender Bender" – a road traffic accident/crash
"Flash for cash" – a speed camera
"Flip-flop" – the return leg of a trip. (ex: "Catch you on the flip-flop" means "I'll contact you again on
the way back.")
"Four" – short for the ten code 10-4, which means acknowledged, okay, etc.
"Four-wheeler" – While this is commonly used to refer to a four-wheel-drive vehicle (such as a jeep
or pickup), among truck drivers it refers to any vehicle with only 2 axles, as distinguished from an
"eighteen-wheeler" (a semi truck).
"Freightshaker" – another term for a Freightliner tractor
"Front door" – the leader of a convoy, or the area ahead of a vehicle.
"Gator" / "Alligator" – a large piece of a truck tire's tread in the roadway. The name comes from the
tire tread's resemblance to the scaly ridges of an alligator's back, or the propensity for these pieces of
tread to be drawn up between the cab and trailer by the air currents of a truck at highway speeds "like
a snapping gator", and sever the air brake lines between the tractor and the trailer. Most newer trucks
have shield plates designed to prevent this.
"Gator guts"- Smaller pieces of shredded tire usually preceding a larger piece of "gator" or "gator
back".
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"Gay Bay" – San Francisco Bay area.
"Go-go juice" / "Motion Lotion" – fuel (usually diesel, since large trucks seldom run on gasoline.)
"Good buddy" – In the 1970s, this was the stereotypical term for friend on CB radio. It now means a
male homosexual.[1] (http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~wglowka/slang.spr2001.html) [2]
(http://www.cbgazette.com/slang.html)
"Good neighbor" – this has replaced "good buddy" as the acceptable term for friend.
"Got your ears on?" – asking the receiver if they are on the air and listening.
"Hammer lane" – the far left lane (fast lane).
"Handle" – the nickname a CB user uses in CB transmissions. Other CB users will refer to the user by
this nickname. To say "What's your handle?" is to ask another user for their CB nickname.
"Harvey Wallbanger" – a driver who appears to be drunk or is driving recklessly.
"Hauling fence post holes" / "Hauling sailboat fuel" / "Hauling dispatcher brains" – hooked to an
empty trailer.
"Hitting the jackpot" - Getting stopped by a state trooper. Lights on trooper cars looked like slot
machine lights.
"How 'bout ya?" – a query used when seeking another, usually followed by their CB handle, or some
other identifier if you don't know their handle.
"How many candles are you burning?" – is to ask 'how old are you?'
"I'm / We're gone" – indicates that one is finished transmitting and may not be listening to the
conversation any longer, or may be traveling out of receiving range. Equivalent to "Signing off",
"Out", or "Clear" in formalized radio voice procedure.
"K-Whopper" / "KW" – a Kenworth Tractor
"Kick a tire" – to urinate using the quadruple tractor or trailer tires as cover
"Kick it in" – what the person who is being called will say on his radio as a response.
(for example...."how 'bout cha Blue Beard. You got a copy on Shamrock?" "This is Blue Beard. Kick it in.")
"Kicker" / "Boots" – a Linear Amplifier that is used to boost the transmitting power of a CB Radio
above the legal four watts.
"Kiddy Car" – Refers to a school bus. Some bus drivers have a CB and will say " Kiddy Car stopping
ahead"
"Lot Lizard" – prostitute, especially one that frequents truck stops.
"Organ Donor" – a civilian motorcyclist, especially one without a helmet.
"Pete" / "Petercar" / "Poor Boy" – a Peterbilt Tractor
"Pickle Park" – an interstate rest area frequented by prostitutes.
"Pregnant Rollerskate" – a Volkswagen Beetle.
"Portable Parking Lot" – a car hauler
"Pumpkin" – a Schneider National, Inc. truck.
"Put the hammer down" / "Put the pedal to the metal" – Slang for flooring the accelerator.
"Raking the leaves" - Refers to the last person in the convoy, who would watch out for troopers
coming from behind
"Reefer" – a refrigerated trailer, used for transporting foodstuffs and other perishable cargo.
"Road pizza" – an animal that has been run over and flattened on the pavement.
"Rolling refinery" – a tank truck carrying fuel.
"Salt Shaker" – a snowplow
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"Sandbagging" – a term used to describe the activity of a person not participating in conversation but
listening only, despite having the capability of speaking. This is not the same as listening in using a
simple receiver, as the person doing this activity can transmit using the two-way radio, but chooses not
to. [3][4] It is done to monitor people for entertainment or for gathering information about the actions
of others. Often CBer’s will sandbag to listen to others' responses to their previous input to a
conversation, sometimes referred to a "reading the mail."[5]
"Schneider Eggs" – Orange barrels filled with sand at construction sites to serve as a protective barrier
for construction wokers against moving traffic. The term is a reference to Schneider, a large trucking
company known for its orange-painted trucks.
"Seat cover" – an attractive female passenger in a vehicle.
"ShakeyLiner" / "Freightshaker" – a Freightliner tractor.
"Shakeytown" – Los Angeles, so nicknamed because of the earthquakes that occur there.
"Shaking the Trees" - Refers to the person in the lead in a convoy, watching out for troopers up ahead.
"Sin City" – Las Vegas, Nevada
"Skateboard" – a flatbed truck or trailer.
"Sleeper leaper" - see Lot Lizard
"Steak on the grill" / "Put a steak on the grill" – to hit a cow.
"Suicide jockey" – a truck carrying explosives.
"Super Slab" – a slang term for a multi-lane highway
"T2 Me Too" – A Peterbilt 387 tractor. Noted for it's near clonelike resemblance to the Kenworth T-
2000
"Tandems" – the rear wheels on a trailer
"Thermos Bottle" – Driver pulling a chemical trailer
"TK" / "Unit" – Thermo-King; refrigerated unit on the front of a trailer
"The Mistake on the Lake" – Cleveland
"Twenty" / "What's your twenty?" – asking the receiver what their current location is. This term
comes from the ten-code 10-20.
"10-100" / "Going number 1" – (polite) Taking a bathroom break, specifically urination.
"10-200" / Police needed at ..........
"Toilet mouth" / "Potty mouth" – someone using profanity on the air (on-air profanity is generally
frowned upon within the CB community).
"Wiggle wagon/Widowmaker/Set of Joints"- A semi truck pulling two or more trailers in tandem.
References
1. ^ http://NewCompanyDriver.com/cb-slang.htm
2. ^ http://NewCompanyDriver.com/cb-slang.htm
3. ^ 'The Truckers Place' Truckers Slang (http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/1608/page2.htm)
4. ^ ACBRO Team Inc 1980 - Advocates For Australian CB Radio Clubs And Operators
(http://www.acbro.org/a19.htm)
5. ^ Getting Familiar With CB Codes, Phrases, and Terminology (http://www.truckercountry.com/cb-
terminology.html)
See also
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Ten-code
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