Truck Driving Slang As It Is Slung

There's a 4 wheeler with the greasy side up in the hammer lane.

Truck driving slang got a REAL bad rap in the late 70's during the CB craze. One wonders what trendy terms currently in use for the Internet are going to look like in 20 years. The truth of the matter is that similar to many professions, there is a slang associated with truck driving. Just as we're accustomed to using slang terms such as The Web, the system is up and email with computers, truck drivers use their own terminology. Some of it has evolved over the years, others are fairly recent. Some are slightly off color. The more offensive ones have been edited out of this list.

Here's a list of slang words and their definitions graciously reprinted by permission from Jerry Dunn. Look for this list in Jerry's book, "Idiom Savant: Slang As It Is Slung" (Fall 1996, Simon & Schuster), when it comes out next Fall. P.S. Look for yours truly's name in the book too. ;-)

• alligator n. - a tread or recap from a blown tire. Creates a road hazard. Rel. alligator bait: bits and pieces of a blown tire.
• at your back door adj. - behind a truck. "You got a bear at your back door." Ant. front door: front of a truck.
• back row n. - the area at some truck stops where hookers hang out.
• Bambi n. - a deer, whether dead or alive. Rel. swamp donkey: a moose.
• bear/Smokey n. - a county or state cop. Rel. she bear: a female cop.
• bedbuggers n. - moving companies.
• bear in the air n. - a police airplane that monitors highway speeds below.
• big/tall rubber n. - 24-inch tires. Rel. small rubber: 22-inch tires.
• bingo cards n. - paper cards that hold trucking permits from various states.
• Bluebird n. - A Martin Truck company's truck. Named because of bird painted on the side of the trailers.
• bobtail adj. - running without a trailer.
• boogie n. - top gear. "I've got 'er up into boogie now."
• brake check n. - a sudden slowdown in traffic, where you have to hit the brakes.
• Bulldog n. - a Mack truck.
• bumper sticker n. - an automobile following you too closely. Syn. - hitchhiker.
• bundled out adj. - loaded very full.
• Cabbage n. - a long steep incline in eastern Oregon. "I smoked the brakes comin' off of Cabbage."
• cash register n. - a toll booth. "You're coming up on a cash register at yardstick 154."
• chicken lights n. - extra lights on the truck and trailer.
• city kitty n. - a female city police officer.
• comedian n. - the median strip.
• comic/funny book n. - a Department of Transportation logbook, required by law.
• coop/chicken coop n. - a weigh station.
• Corn Flake n. - a Consolidated Freightways truck.
• county mountie n. - a sheriff. Syn. - local yokel.
• covered wagon n. - a gravel trailer topped with a tarp.
• crotch rocket n. - a motorcycle. Syn. - murdercycle.
• destruction n. - road construction.
• double nickel n. - 55 miles per hour, the speed limit.
• down stroke n. - a hill going down. Ant. - up stroke: a hill going up.
• dragon wagon n. - Tow Truck.
• dragon fly n. - a truck with no power, i.e. drag up hill, fly down hill.
• dry box n. - a freight trailer. Syn. - van.
• 18-wheeler n. - any articulated truck (even though many have fewer or more than 18 wheels).
• 4-wheeler n. - a passenger car.
• Evil Kenivel n. - a motorcycle cop.
• FreightShaker n. - a Freightliner truck.
• garbage n. - produce, i.e. hauling garbage.
• gearjammer/gearslammer n. - a speeding truck driver, one known to accelerate/decelerate quickly.
• General Mess of Crap n. - GMC trucks by Volvo/White.
• Georgia Overdrive n. - neutral gear.
• good buddy n. - a homosexual.
• go to the Harley v. - to put your CB on channel 1. Rel. - go to double Harley: to turn the CB to channel 11.
• got your ears on expression - used when looking for someone on the CB. "Hey HT, you got your ears on?"
• gouge on it v. - go fast, step on it.
• granny lane n. - the right, slow lane on an interstate highway or freeway.
• greasy side up adj. - when a car or truck has flipped over. "There's a 4-wheeler with the greasy side up."
• green stamps n. - money, usually tolls.
• ground pressure n. - weight. "The coop is just checking ground presssure; no sweat."
• gumball machine n. - lights on top of a police cruiser. "He's got his gumball machine going." Rel. - hit the jackpot: when police lights are flashing. "Looks like someone hit the jackpot."
• hammer down v. - go fast, step on it.
• hammer lane n. - the fast, passing lane on an interstate highway or freeway. Syn. - bumper lane.
• haulin' dispatcher brains v. - pulling an empty trailer, deadheading. Syn. - haulin' sailboat fuel.
• have shutter trouble v. - to fall asleep. "He ran off the road. Must of had shutter trouble."
• Ho Chi Minh Trail n. - California Highway 152, which has heavy traffic and is a "minefield" of accidents.
• hood n. - any conventional tractor, as opposed to a cab-over. Syn. - long-nose. hook n. - a tow truck.
• $100 lane n. - the left lane of a highway or freeway that has more than two lanes in each direction.
• in the big hole adj. - in top gear.
• Kenworthless n. - a Kenworth truck. Syn. - K-Whopper.
• Kojak with a Kodak n. - a police officer with a radar gun. "There's a Kojak with a Kodak behind the overpass."
• large car n. - a big, fancy truck.
• Left Coast n. - the West Coast.
• lot lizard n. - a truck-stop hooker. "Wow, get a load of the lot lizards in the back row! Of course, they'll all scramble for cover when the sun comes up."
• meat wagon n. - ambulance.
• mission n. - a rush load. "I'm on a mission today."
• motion lotion n. - fuel.
• parking lot n. - a truck carrying automobiles. Also, a traffic back-up.
• pickle park n. - a rest area or roadside park, often a hangout for hookers.
• plain white wrapper n. - an unmarked police car.
• power up v. - go fast, step on it.
• pumpkin n. - Schneider company trucks. So named because of their bright orange color.
• reefer n. - a refrigerated cargo trailer. "The sign at the front desk at Motel 6 says, 'No running reefers after 9 p.m.'"
• road pizza n. - a badly mangled road kill.
• rollerskate n. - any small car. Originally referred to a Volkswagen.
• salt shaker n. - a snow plow.
• sand box n. - a gravel trailer. Syn. - coal bucket.
• Schneider eggs n. - orange drums used by road work crews to block off a lane. They're the same color as Schneider company trucks.
• scoot n. - a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
• Sesame Street n. - CB channel 19. Named so because of child-like behavior that sometimes occurs. Especially around urban areas.
• Shakey Side n. - the West Coast of the US.
• shoot you in the back v. when a hidden highway cop uses a radar gun after you pass. "You got a bear settin' under the bridge who's gonna shoot you in the back when you go by."
• skate board n. - a flatbed trailer.
• skins n. - tires. Syn. - rubbers.
• Slow Wheels In Fast Traffic n. - another name for SWIFT company's trucks.
• smokin' scooter n. - a motorcycle cop. Syn. - Evel Knievel.
• stagecoach n. - a tour bus.
• Sure Wish I'd'a Faster Truck n. - the SWIFT company's trucks.
• swinging adj. - carrying a load of carcass beef.
• taking pictures v. when a cop is using radar equipment. "There's a smokin' scooter taking pictures at yardstick 25."
• thermos bottle n. - a tanker trailer. Syn. - pipeline, portable gas station.
• too many eggs in the basket adj. - overweight.
• toothpicks n. - lumber. "I got a load of toothpicks."
• travel agent n. - dispatcher.
• triple digit ride n. - a truck that can exceed 100 miles per hour.
• VW n. - a Volvo/White tractor.
• Wally World n. - a Wal-Mart truck, store or dist. center.
• West Coast turnarounds n. - benzedrine pills, speed. So called because a driver could theoretically take some and drive from the East Coast to the West Coast, turn around, and drive back east without stopping to sleep.
• wiggle wagons n. - double or triple trailers. Syn. - pups, rolling trouble, snakes, wasp-waists.
• yardstick n. - a mile marker alongside a highway.

Trucker cities:

• The Big A: Atlanta, GA
• Air Capitol: Wichita, KS
• Armadillo: Amarillo, TX
• The Alamo: San Antonio, TX
• The Astrodome: Houston, TX
• The Apple: New York, NY
• Bean Town: Boston, MA
• Big D: Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
• Big O: Omaha, NE
• The Bikini: Miami, FL or Florida in general
• Bright Lights: Kansas City, MO
• CB Town: Council Bluffs, IA
• Cigar City: Tampa, FL
• Circle City: Indianapolis
• The Cities: Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
• Cow Town: Calgary, AB
• (The) Flag: Flagstaff, AZ
• The Friendly: Philadelphia, PA
• (The) Gateway: St. Louis, MO
• Gay Bay: San Francisco, CA
• Guitar: Nashville, TN
• Hog Town: Toronto
• Hotlanta: Atlanta, GA
• Irish: South Bend, IN
• Mardi Gras: New Orleans, LA
• Mile High: Denver, CO
• Music City: Nashville, TN
• The Dirty: Cleveland, OH
• The Mistake on the Lake: Erie, Pennsylvania, Cleveland, OH...and every other city on the Great Lakes
• The Nickel: Buffalo, NY
• The Peg: Winnipeg
• Philly: Philadelphia
• The Rubber: Akron, Ohio
• Shaky City: Los Angeles (aka Lost Angels, Lower Arkansas)
• Smoke City: Birmingham, AL
• Steel City/Town: Pittsburgh, PA
• The Swamp: Montreal
• Windy: Chicago, IL