Speech in games can make a big difference to the feel of authenticity and the sense of immersion the player has. Poorly written or unconvincing speech weakens a game, and as we strive to make better and better games, we can’t ignore the importance of good writing overall, and realistic scripting in particular.
This chapter covers a lot of ways to create more believable speech, including:
Dialog works very well in some games and not at all in others. It tends to slow down the action and become repetitive, and, if not very well written, it can be boring or annoying. Some players have the patience to enjoy well-written dialog, however, while others do not.
At the same time, some developers feel the need to write 100 lines of dialog to make a single point, or they choose to explain something that could have been inferred. “Wow, something crashed outside.” Okay, I’m being mean, but if you find yourself writing what’s called ABABABABAB dialog, where A says something, B says something, and it’s becoming like a game of endless verbal tennis, consider it a warning sign. For one thing, real conversations don’t actually work that way. For another, players generally aren’t interested in that kind of back and forth in a game unless it’s a) informative, b) funny, or c) interesting (at least).
While dialog has its drawbacks in games, it also has some benefits. Good dialog can bring characters to life and help establish the uniqueness of their identities. It can also allow the player to explore his character’s personality (as distinct from the player’s own) within the context of the game. For instance, whereas the player may be very timid in real life, the game character could be assertive or a “hard case.” Or, the player might tend to be a bit overbearing (that’s why he’s playing this game alone), but the in-game character persona could be very sensitive, with lots of friends. In many cases, the in-game character is a fantasy projection of the player, so giving players plenty of dialog options allows more nuance and more complex identities to emerge. It allows them to wear that fantasy costume and mask even more.
Dialog is also a good way to impart information, but again, only if it is worth reading or listening to (assuming there are voices in the game). Here are a few tips for writing dialog in games:
Don’t Cut Corners! If you really don’t have time to put effort into the dialog, don’t. Bad writing—and worse, bad acting—can make a game seem amateurish and embarrassing. Good writing and acting can make it seem polished and far more immersive. Do it right or don’t do it. And, if you can’t commit the resources to the best writing and acting, then “cheat.” Think of The Sims characters making vocal-like sounds, because babble is better than bad dialog—at least it can convey emotion, and the player can imagine it’s very interesting. I’m not saying The Sims would’ve had bad dialog; I’m saying it’s a good example of how you can have non-speaking characters that still convey meaning through the sounds they make (along with some other clues).
Worth It. It takes time to sit through a dialog scene, so the dialog itself should be entertaining and sometimes surprising (don’t say everything—leave some mystery), should reveal relationships, and certainly should be believable. Moreover, the result of the dialog scene should be rewarding. The player should come away with new information or new tasks or clues—something that furthers the experience of playing the game. There can be purely cosmetic, humorous, or personal dialog scenes, but they should be used with restraint. “Still haven’t quit?” That simple question is a good example of using dialog to establish the existing relationship between one character and another as one of them reaches for a cigarette. It’s short and simple, but it tells you that the two have history.
Unique Characters. One secret to creating dialog in games is to consider each NPC character and the player’s character to be unique. You can get more information about creating unique characters in Chapter 12, “Character Design,” but whenever you are writing dialog for characters, consider who they are, what motivates them, what they are distracted by (for example, are they worried about something?), where they live, what their life is like generally, and what specific mannerisms or quirks they might have that can differentiate them from every other character in the game.
Simplicity. Generally, you want to keep it simple and to the point, with only a little digression or verbosity where it’s necessary to establish character. There can be exceptions. For instance, in a game where dialog is used as a major part of the character’s exploration of self or others, you can explore more complex interactions where the interaction itself is an adventure, but you want to be sure that the kind of game you’re creating attracts an audience with the patience and interest in such scenes. More drawn-out dialogs are probably more important in rare adventure or RPG games and games that are based on properties in which the writing, dialog, or personalities are important. For instance, we might want to hear more from Harry or Dumbledore if we are major Harry Potter fans. In contrast, putting involved dialog in a game where players are expecting a lot of non-stop action is not recommended.
Variety and Exploration. Make a player’s options in choice-oriented dialog scenes meaningful, but offer some variation by which the player can explore different paths to discover different kinds of information.
The Way Out. Always offer the player a way out. Don’t leave them embroiled in a long, seemingly never-ending conversation. There should always be an “I gotta go” type of option.
Logical Consistency. Avoid contradicting your own story or characters. Make sure that your characters are consistent and not contradicting themselves or others—unless that is intentional because they are lying or misinformed as part of the story. There’s nothing worse than getting a quest from a character that said to go right at the fork when you were supposed to go left, to enter 111213 instead of 112233 as the combination, or to talk to the Ragged Peasant in Felorin Township instead of the Peasant’s Relative in Falstadt Village. You get the point, and even subtle inconsistency will get spotted quickly (thanks to the Internet generation).
Don’t Forget Humor. There’s really nothing quite like a good laugh in the middle of a game that seems to take itself seriously. If you can find a way to make someone chuckle or laugh out loud, by all means use it. For more information about how to make things funny, see the section “Creating Comedy” in Chapter 19, “Storytelling Techniques.” A good example is people signing a funny song in the game Black and White. Humor is generally very difficult to write, so it comes with a warning too, but we do have a section on adding humor in this book for those who dare to go there.
Don’t Be Afraid to Innovate. Test out different ways to handle dialog. For instance:
Offer emoticons for the mood in which the instruction will be delivered (angry, sad, forgiving, mischievous, and so on). When you click that icon, it offers the dialog. (This is good if you’re stuck with text and have no facial animations to work with.)
The NPC can respond at any time. Make it more fluid, so it feels more like a live conversation. Real people interrupt each other, so why not in games? Ever heard an NPC say, “Back to the point I was going to make earlier...?”
Explore an artificial-intelligence environment in which characters respond to what your character says with a variety of possible responses, including becoming more receptive, becoming angry, cutting off all communication, giving you everything you asked for, and so on. Allow the player in this dialog to say anything, and have a parser engine that can interpret words and meanings. This is not an easy task. The best example I’ve seen so far is Façade (www.interactivestory.net).
Where is the future of this stuff going? Writers will tell you they can never be replaced, and they are correct. But with speech cognition (code that understands what you say into your microphone), speech generation (where the code responds with a voice), and voice font technology (where voices have proper intonation), you can see where the writers will be able to interact with the players like never before. How can you be the one to make this happen first? I’d start by looking for people who are publishing white papers in this space. It’s complicated, but it’s exciting to see where that could go.
Military
A: Alpha
B: Bravo
C: Charlie
D: Delta
E: Echo
F: Foxtrot
G: Golf
H: Hotel
I: India
J: Juliet
K: Kilo
L: Lima
M: Mike
N: November
O: Oscar
P: Papa
Q: Québec
R: Romeo
S: Sierra
T: Tango
U: Uniform
V: Victor
W: Whiskey
X: X-ray
Y: Yankee
Z: Zulu
A: Adam
B: Boy
C: Charles
D: David
E: Edward
F: Frank
G: George
H: Henry
I: Ida
J: John
K: King
L: Lincoln
M: Mary
N: Nora
O: Ocean
P: Paul
Q: Queen
R: Robert
S: Sam
T: Tom
U: Union
V: Victor
W: William
X: X-ray
Y: Young
Z: Zebra
WWI Phonetic
A: Ack
B: Beer
C: Charlie
D: Don
E: Edward
F: Freddie
G: Gee
H: Harry
I: Ink
J: Johnnie
K: King
L: London
M: Emma
N: Nuts
O: Oranges
P: Pip
Q: Queen
R: Robert
S: Esses
T: Toc
U: Uncle
V: Vic
W: William
X: X-ray
Y: Yorker
Z: Zebra
Military time is used not only by police and military personnel, but often by firefighters, hospitals, and paramedics, among others.
Basically, military time can be converted using the following table:
Regular Time | Military Time |
|---|---|
Midnight | 0000 |
1:00 a.m. | 0100 |
2:00 a.m. | 0200 |
3:00 a.m. | 0300 |
4:00 a.m. | 0400 |
5:00 a.m. | 0500 |
6:00 a.m. | 0600 |
7:00 a.m. | 0700 |
8:00 a.m. | 0800 |
9:00 a.m. | 0900 |
10:00 a.m. | 1000 |
11:00 a.m. | 1100 |
Noon | 1200 |
1:00 p.m. | 1300 |
2:00 p.m | 1400 |
3:00 p.m. | 1500 |
4:00 p.m. | 1600 |
5:00 p.m. | 1700 |
6:00 p.m. | 1800 |
7:00 p.m. | 1900 |
8:00 p.m. | 2000 |
9:00 p.m. | 2100 |
10:00 p.m. | 2200 |
11:00 p.m. | 2300 |
Basically, the way to pronounce military time is in hours. So if it were 6:23 p.m., it would be 1823 hours (“eighteen twenty-three hours” or simply “eighteen twenty-three”). The early hours are pronounced with zeros—for instance, 12:18 a.m. would be “zero zero eighteen hours” or “zero zero one eight” or “oh oh eighteen.” 1:00 a.m. would be “zero one hundred hours” or, more commonly, “oh one hundred hours.” 8:00 p.m. is 2000 hours, spoken as “twenty hundred hours.”
Nicknames are helpful in making characters more colorful and personal. Nicknames often say something about a person that their given name does not. For instance, nicknames like Slim and Killer are more interesting and suggestive than Bill and Fred. If someone is called by a diminutive name, such as Joey instead of Joe or Joseph, or Katie instead of Kate or Katherine, what does that say about them? What about Big Jim, Stinky, Tricky Dick, or any of a wide variety of nicknames?
Nicknames can tell a story or indicate something specific about a character. They also sound more interesting and can even help give more personality to a character who tends to give other people nick-names—for instance, the boss character who never refers to people by their names, but calls them Numbnuts or says things like, “Hey you there, the bozo in the T-shirt....”
Although it is possible to list some of the more common nicknames, many nicknames are given to people based on specific circumstances. If Michael Jordan was known as Air Jordan, it was because of specific characteristics of his performance as a player, but Air wouldn’t necessarily be a common nickname. It could still be used, however.
Some nicknames are plays on words, such as those who call George W. Bush by the nickname Shrub. Others employ someone’s initials, such as JFK or LBJ. In giving nicknames to characters, be creative. You can make up new nicknames or you can use nicknames that are authentic to a specific ethnic group, time period, or geographical region. For instance, the name Bubba is not uncommon in some quarters, but would be out of place, for instance, in Manhattan.
Speaking of places, they can have nicknames, too. For instance, Chicago is the Windy City, and New York is the Big Apple.
Remember also, while some nicknames are more or less permanent replacements for someone’s given name, others can be off-the-cuff temporary monikers. For instance, some tough guy might say, “Get over here, nerd-o” to a weaker kid. Nerd-o isn’t a permanent nickname (hopefully), but it is a nickname of sorts anyway.
Given the assortment of names people can call each other, there’s a nearly infinite range of possibilities. This list is intentionally short and contains a few fairly common nicknames. It’s up to you to discover or invent others. In fact, you can always make up your own buzzwords and slang, especially if you are creating a completely fictional location or setting.
Sample Nicknames
Using appropriate slang not only adds to the realistic quality of characters’ speech, but it also makes them far more colorful. The choice of slang expressions and other types of jargon used can further identify a character’s cultural, social, or ethnic origins.
Of course, the pitfalls of using slang and other words specific to a culture, geographical area, or specific group is that you may use it incorrectly, which will turn players off. It’s best to know the culture you’re writing about or to have someone who does if you are going to use slang, jargon, or group-specific buzzwords.
Also, don’t lay it on too thick. You don’t want some bozo to spew a load of slang every time he opens his yap. I mean, some whack job might actually go over the top and motormouth nothing but lingo. You want summa this? Huh?
At any rate, slang should be used selectively and should be appropriate to the situation. Probably the best way to create colorful speakers is to listen to colorful speakers from the appropriate group or region. Or hire someone who uses that slang. Or at least watch some good movies from the appropriate era.
Keep in mind that slang reflects common usage and is constantly changing. You can easily characterize a has-been hippie by having him say “far out” and “groovy” a lot. But no self-respecting street person would say that now. Every decade or so brings a whole new slang lexicon, and in today’s culture, new words and phrases are introduced practically daily—or so it seems. You need to do research to be authentic, unless you are writing your own “native” slang.
To further this point, slang in the ’20s was quite different from slang in the ’40s, the ’70s, the ’80s, the ’90s, and today. British slang is commonly used in movies and sometimes in games, but British slang varies from one region to another. Even parts of London have different slang. Then there’s Australian slang, which is colorful and has been popularized in recent years. There’s Jewish/Yiddish slang (which is commonly heard in movies and read in books), slang from the South, and slang from other various parts of the country, such as Maine or the Midwest or Boston. There are foreign words that become part of our vocabulary, such as gringo, which is Spanish for a foreigner or haole, which is Hawaiian for pretty much the same thing.
The lines also begin to blur between different types of ethnic, regional, and generational slang as well as various buzzwords that ultimately become common usage. One easy example is the use of the term “cop” to refer to police. This is pervasive to the point of being a part of general language. Another term, “pushing the envelope,” originated with pilots pushing their planes to maximum performance, but now the term is often used to indicate any situation or action that takes things to the extreme.
Because this is such a vast subject and because it is changing so rapidly, I can’t really give you the kind of one-stop reference I’d like to, listing all the words and phrases you might need and saving you the trouble of finding them. That would take a book in itself. However, this book will have an associated website (davidperry.ning.com) that will contain links to other resources and various tools to help you in this and other areas of game development and design.
Finally, there’s nothing wrong with making up some terms of your own, particularly if they can help further identify a character. Someone who consistently uses a term of his own devising can become associated with that term. For instance (and this is typically odd), some guy might call everybody he meets Mitchell. As in, “Hey Mitchell, whaddup?” It’s his own pet name for everyone, and it says something about who he is and how he thinks of people. Never mind that Mitchell makes no sense...or does it?
In futuristic stories, it’s common to make up new types of slang and terminology. William Gibson’s Neuromancer comes to mind, and somewhat later, The Matrix. These stories take place in a society and an era that hasn’t yet come to pass, so you can be most creative with slang and terminology.
I have included a few terms as samples from different types of slang:
’20s slang
’30s/’40s detective slang
’60s/’70s slang
’80s slang
’90s slang
Surfer slang
Skateboarder slang
British slang
Cockney rhyming slang
Australian slang
Yiddish terms
Rasta slang
Modern (circa 2005) slang
Cops and criminals slang
The Roaring Twenties produced a lot of slang terms, many of which are still in use today—for example, “baby” to denote someone’s sweetheart or “dead soldier” to refer to an empty beer bottle. Other terms are typically ’20s, such as “bee’s knees” or “jeepers creepers.” Occasionally, you might come across a familiar term, only to see its meaning is quite different today. For instance, “bimbo” in the ’20s meant a tough guy, while today it means a ditzy woman...go figure. Anyway, here’s a peek into the language of the times:
Ab-so-lute-ly (spoken as separate, distinct syllables; means “I definitely agree.”)
All wet (as in “You’re all wet,” meaning you’re wrong)
And how! (You bet...I agree)
Applesauce (nonsense)
Attaboy/Attagirl (good job, well done)
Baby (sweetheart)
Baby grand (a big guy)
Balled up (confused; “I’m all balled up, baby.”)
Baloney (untrue or nonsense, as in “That’s a load of baloney.”)
Beat it (go away, scram, get lost)
Beat your gums (to chatter away)
Beef (a complaint, or, as a verb, to complain)
Bee’s knees (the best, really great)
Beeswax (used as a synonym for “business” in the phrase, “That’s none of your beeswax.”)
Bent (drunk; also blotto, tanked, stewed, shot, polluted, plastered, pie-eyed, oiled, juiced, jiggered, fried, crocked, canned, zozzled, and so on)
Big cheese (someone very important)
Bimbo (a tough guy)
Bird (term to refer to a man or woman: “He (She) was a tough old bird”; also tended to refer to someone odd: “a strange bird”)
Blow (a wild party, also “to leave”)
Bluenose (a prude)
Bohunk (a derogatory term applied to immigrants from Eastern Europe)
Bootleg (illegal liquor, also to bootleg was to make, sell, or transport illegal booze)
Breezer (a convertible)
Bubs (breasts)
Bull (could mean either a policeman or nonsense, as in “That’s bull.”)
Bullsh*t (idle conversation or something not true)
Bump off (kill someone)
Bum’s rush (forcible removal of someone from a location)
Bunk (nonsense)
Bus (an old car)
Bushwa (a euphemism for “bullsh*t”)
Cake-eater (a ladies’ man)
Caper (a criminal act or robbery)
Carry a torch (to have unrequited love for someone)
Cash (a kiss)
Cash or check (a question indicating whether to kiss now or later)
Cat’s meow (sort of like the bee’s knees, something great; also “cat’s pajamas” and “cat’s whiskers”)
Chassis (a female body, as in, “She’s got a great chassis on her.”)
Cheaters (eyeglasses)
Chewing gum (making no sense, doubletalk)
Chopper (the Thompson submachine gun)
Chunk of lead (an unattractive female)
Ciggy (cigarette)
Clam (a dollar)
Copasetic (it’s good)
Crasher (an uninvited guest, as in a party crasher)
Crush (infatuation)
Daddy (refers to a young woman’s boyfriend/lover, particularly if he’s rich)
Daddy-o (hipster/jazz era way to address someone)
Dame (a woman)
Dead soldier (empty beer bottle)
Deb (debutante)
Dick (private investigator)
Dinge (derogatory term for a black person)
Dogs (feet)
Doll (an attractive woman)
Dolled up (fancy, dressed up)
Don’t take any wooden nickels (don’t get fooled, watch yourself)
Don’t/Doesn’t know from nothing (clueless, has no information)
Dope (drugs, especially cocaine or opium)
Double-cross (to cheat or betray someone)
Dough (money)
Drugstore cowboy (someone who hangs around in public trying to pick up women)
Dry up (shut up)
Ducky (just great)
Earful (enough)
Edge (have a buzz on)
Egg (a guy, as in, “He’s a good egg.”)
Ethel (effeminate male)
Fag (a cigarette, also a homosexual)
Fall guy (someone who takes the rap, a scapegoat)
Fella (a guy)
Fire extinguisher (chaperone)
Fish (a college freshman, also someone doing a first prison term)
Flapper (a woman of the ’20s typified by short hair and flouncy short skirts)
Flat tire (someone who’s boring)
Flick (movie)
Flour lover (a woman who wears excessive face powder)
Flyboy (a pilot)
For crying out loud! (You gotta be kidding!)
Four-flusher (a moocher who pretends to be wealthy, a fake)
Frame (to set someone up to take the blame, to take the fall, etc.)
Futz (a more polite replacement for f*ck)
Gaga (nuts)
Gams (legs)
Gatecrasher (same as crasher)
Gay (happy)
Getup (a person’s outfit, what they’re wearing)
Giggle water (alcohol)
Gigolo (a dancing partner)
Gimp (a cripple)
Gin mill (a cheap bar or speakeasy, also someone who sold hard liquor)
Glad rags (fancy clothes for partying and going out)
Gold-digger (a woman who goes after men for their money)
The goods (the facts of a situation or the stuff needed for a specific situation)
Goof (a dopey person or a flapper’s boyfriend)
Goofy (infatuated)
Grummy (depressed)
Grungy (envious)
Gyp (to cheat)
Hair of the dog (a drink of alcohol, particularly after a night of drinking when hung over; the full expression is “hair of the dog that bit you”)
Half under (very drunk)
Handcuff (an engagement ring)
Hard-boiled (tough)
Harp (an Irishman)
Hayburner (a losing horse or a car that guzzles gas)
Heavy sugar (a good quantity of money)
Heebie-jeebies (the shakes, the creeps)
High hat (a snob)
Hip to the jive (with it)
Hit on all sixes (to do something really well—reference to six-cylinder cars; could also be “hit on all fours,” in reference to common four-cylinder engines)
Holding the bag (to take the blame or to be cheated out of a share)
Hooch (alcohol)
Hood (criminal/hoodlum)
Hooey (crap, as in “a load of hooey”)
Hoofer (a dancer)
Hop (drugs, such as opium or marijuana; also a teen dance party)
Hope chest (a cigarette package)
Hopped up (drugged)
Hotsy-totsy (that’s cool, neat-o)
I have to go see a man about a dog (a common expression meaning “I have to go now” or “I’m going to buy booze.”)
In a lather (worked up, angry)
Insured (engaged)
Iron (a motorcycle)
Iron your shoelaces (to go to the bathroom)
Ish kabibble (Yiddish expression for “I should care?” or “So what?” Popularized in the ’20s, also the name of a trumpet player in the Kay Kyser orchestra)
Jack (money)
Jake (really good, as in “That’s Jake with me.”)
Jalopy (a car—often a rundown one)
Jane (generic term for a female)
Java (coffee)
Jeepers creepers (Yikes! Might have been a euphemistic way of saying, “Jesus Christ!”)
Jerk soda (from the action of pulling the handle on the soda machine; origin of the term “soda jerk”)
Jitney (a car used as a private bus or taxi; because the fare was usually five cents, it was also known as a “nickel”)
Joe (coffee; also might refer to a guy: “a regular Joe”)
Joe Brooks (a snappy dresser)
John (toilet)
Joint (a place or establishment)
Juice joint (a bar, speakeasy)
Kale (money)
Keen (cool/good, interested)
Killjoy (not the life of the party)
Kisser (mouth)
Knock up (to get someone pregnant; also “knocked up,” meaning to be pregnant)
Lay off (cool it, stop it)
Let George do it (a common phrase used to avoid work)
Level (to be straight or honest with, as in, “I gotta level wit ya, Frankie. I took the dough.” Also, “on the level” and “on the up and up.”)
Limey (someone of British origins)
Line (an untrue story or excuse, also insincere flattery)
Live wire (an energetic or intense person)
Lollapalooza (a real whopper, a humdinger)
Lollygagger (someone who hangs around watching but doing nothing, also a guy who likes to make out)
Lounge lizard (a ladies’ man)
Lousy (bad)
Main drag (the main street in town)
Make out (to engage in various sexual activities with someone)
Malarkey (bull, lies)
Manacle (wedding ring)
Mazuma (money)
Milquetoast (a timid or wimpy, unassertive person)
Mind your potatoes (mind your own business, also “mind your Ps and Qs”)
Moll (a gangster’s girlfriend)
Mooch (to leave)
Moonshine (homemade whiskey)
Mop (handkerchief)
Munitions (face powder)
Neck (to kiss with passion)
Nifty (good, great)
Nitwit (idiot)
Noodle juice (tea)
Nookie (sex)
Off one’s nuts (crazy)
Oh yeah! (a retort meaning “No way” or “I don’t think so”)
Old boy (often a way that a man would address another man, particularly in society circles)
On a toot (on a drinking binge)
On the lam (running from the cops)
Orchid (an expensive item)
Owl (someone up late, as in “night owl”)
Palooka (an average [or worse] boxer, also someone who is a social outsider)
Panic (something extraordinary, as in “That show was a real panic.”)
Panther sweat (whiskey)
Pet (advanced making out)
Petting pantry (movie theater)
Petting party (a make-out party of one couple or more)
Piffle (nonsense)
Piker (a cheapskate or a coward)
Pill (a jerk or obnoxious character, also a teacher)
Pinch (to arrest, to be pinched was to be arrested)
Pinko (a liberal)
Pipe down (shut up)
Pos-i-lute-ly (spoken in distinct syllables, means “absolutely”)
Putting on the Ritz (doing it up, high class)
Quiff (a cheap whore or a slut)
Ragamuffin (a dirty person, often a kid)
Rain pitchforks (heavy rain)
Razz (to goof on or make fun of)
Real McCoy (the real deal, the genuine article)
Regular (a normal sort, as in a regular Joe)
Rub (a student dance party)
Rube (a country bumpkin, also “Rueben”)
Rubes (money/dollars)
Rummy (a drunk)
Sap (sucker, fool)
Says you (a response to someone who expresses doubt or disbelief)
Scram (to make a fast exit, to leave)
Scratch (money)
Screaming meemies (like the heebie jeebies)
Screw (get out of here, get lost)
Screwy (nuts)
Sheba (a girlfriend)
Sheik (a boyfriend)
Shiv (a knife)
Simolean (a dollar)
Sinker (doughnut)
Sitting pretty (in a good situation)
Skirt (a female, particularly an attractive one)
Smarty (a nice-looking flapper)
Smoke-eater (someone who smokes)
Smudger (someone who dances very close)
So’s your old man (a common retort, basically an insult)
Speakeasy (a bar, but because of Prohibition, an illegal establishment)
Spiffy (fancy)
Spill (to talk, as in “spill the beans”)
Spoon (to make out or to romance someone)
Static (meaningless discourse or a conflict of opinions)
Stilts (legs)
Stuck on (infatuated with)
Sugar daddy (an older guy who provides material comforts and gifts to a younger woman in exchange for sex)
Swanky (classy)
Swell (really fine, also someone high class)
Take someone for a ride (basically, to take someone out and murder him or her in a deserted place)
Talkie (a sound movie)
Tasty (good stuff)
Teenager (Actually not commonly used in the ’20s; came into more general use in the ’30s. The term previously was “young adults.”)
Tell it to Sweeney (I don’t believe what you’re saying)
Tight (nice-looking)
Tin Pan Alley (the New York district known for its music industry)
Tomato (a well-endowed or very attractive female)
Torpedo (a hit man or thug for hire)
Unreal (extraordinary)
Upchuck (vomit)
Vamp (a seductress; to vamp was to seduce)
Voot (money)
Wet blanket (a bore, also “killjoy”)
Throughout the ’30s and ’40s detective novels and movies were popular, and a whole raft of slang developed. A lot of ’30s and ’40s slang carried over from the rich era of the ’20s, but some of it was wholly a part of its own era. Here’s a sample:
Alderman (a pot belly)
Ameche (a telephone)
Ankle (a woman [as a noun] or to walk [as a verb])
Babe (a woman)
Baby (a way of referring to a person: man or woman)
Bangtail (racehorse)
Barber (talk)
Be on the nut (broke)
Bean-shooter (gun)
Beezer (nose)
Behind the eight-ball (in a fix, in difficulty, in a tight spot)
Bent cars (stolen cars)
Berries (dollars)
Big house (jail)
The big one (death)
The big sleep (death)
Bim (a woman)
Bindle (a folded piece of paper containing heroin, also the bundle carried by a vagrant)
Bindle punk, bindle stiff (vagrants and itinerant workers, bums, criminals, and so on—people who carry a bindle)
Bing (crazy; term for solitary confinement in the “big house”)
Bird (man)
Bit (prison sentence)
Blip off (kill)
Blow (leave)
Blow one down (kill someone)
Blower (telephone)
Boiler (car)
Boob (a dope)
Boozehound (someone who drinks excessively—today we’d call that person an alcoholic)
Bop (to kill)
Box (common term for a safe, also a bar)
Box job (cracking a safe)
Brace (to grab or shake someone)
Bracelets (handcuffs)
Break it up (stop what you’re doing)
Breeze (to go)
Breeze off (get lost)
Broad (a woman)
The Broderick (a good beating)
Bruno (a tough guy)
Bucket (car)
Bulge (an advantage)
Bull (cops and guards)
Bump gums (idle chatter)
Bump/bump off (kill)
Bum’s rush (forcible ejection)
Bunco (fraud)
Bunk (as a verb, to leave or to sleep; as a noun, something false)
Bunny (someone being stupid)
Burn powder (fire a gun)
Bus (car)
Button (the face, nose, jaw, as in, “He popped me right on the button.”)
Button man (hit man)
Buttons (police)
Butts (cigarettes)
Buzz (to come to someone’s door, to “give a buzz”)
Buzzer (policeman’s badge)
C ($100, also “C-note” or “century”)
Cabbage (money)
Caboose (jail)
Call copper (snitch, inform)
Can (jail, car)
Can house (brothel)
Can opener (a low-class safecracker)
Canary (woman singer)
Century ($100, also “C” or “C-note”)
Cheaters (sunglasses)
Cheese it (trouble’s here, hide the goods, stop what you’re doing or scram)
Chew (eat)
Chicago lightning (gunfire)
Chicago overcoat (coffin)
Chick (woman)
Chilled off (killed)
Chin (conversation; to chin is to talk)
Chin music (a smack on the jaw)
Chinese angle (an unusual way of looking at something, a twist or trick)
Chinese squeeze (stealing profits off the top)
Chippy (a loose woman)
Chisel (to cheat)
Chiv, chive (a knife)
Chopper squad (guys with machine guns)
Clammed (not talking, also “clammed up”)
Clip joint (generally a term referring to a place that cheats its customers in some way—for instance, by watering the booze or by fixing gambling tables)
Clipped (shot)
Close your head (shut up)
Clout (shoplifter)
Clubhouse (police station)
Coffee-and-doughnut (cheap, crappy)
Con (a swindle, from “confidence game”)
Conk (head)
Cool (to knock out)
Cooler (jail)
Cop (a policeman or private dick; to take or win something)
Copped (apprehended by the coppers)
Copper (policeman; also refers to time off for good behavior)
Corn (bourbon, from corn liquor)
Crab (figure out)
Crate (car)
Croak (to kill, to die)
Croaker (doctor)
Crushed out (escaped)
Cush (money)
Cut down (shot)
Daisy (effeminate male)
Dame (woman)
Dance (to be hanged)
Dangle (get out, get lost)
Darb (superior)
Daylight (as in put a hole in someone)
Deck (cigarette pack)
Dib (share)
Dick (a cop—a private dick was a private detective)
Dingus (generic word for just about anything)
Dip (pickpocket)
Dip the bill (take a drink)
Dish (a pretty woman)
Dive (a cheap establishment, such as a bar, restaurant, or hotel/flophouse)
Dizzy (infatuated, as in “He’s dizzy over that dame.”)
Do the dance (to be hanged)
Dogs (feet)
Doll, dolly (woman)
Dope (drugs; information; or, as a verb, to have figured something out: “I had it all doped out.”)
Dope fiend (drug addict)
Dope peddler (drug dealer)
Dough (money)
Drift (get out, scram)
Drill (shoot)
Drink out of the same bottle (friends)
Drop a dime (rat someone out, make a phone call to inform on someone)
Droppers (hit men)
Drum (a speakeasy)
Dry-gulch (to ambush and knock someone out)
Duck soup (easy)
Dummerer (a beggar who pretends to be deaf and dumb)
Dump (a place—possibly a rundown place, but any place can be a dump)
Dust (nothing; to leave—also “dust out”)
Dutch (to be in trouble)
Dutch act (to commit suicide)
Eel juice (alcohol)
Egg (a guy)
Elbow (a cop or an arrest)
Electric cure (electrocution)
Elephant ears (police)
Fade (scram, get out)
Fin (a $5 bill)
Finger (to point someone out, to accuse or identify them)
Flat (broke, or “for sure,” as in, “I tell you flat, I didn’t do it.”)
Flattie (flatfoot, cop)
Flimflam (a swindle)
Flippers (hands)
Flogger (overcoat)
Flop (to go to sleep, to fail)
Flophouse (a cheap hotel)
Fog (to shoot)
Frail (woman)
Frau (wife)
From nothing (not knowing, as in, “He don’t know from nothing.”)
Fry (to be electrocuted)
Gams (a woman’s legs)
Gashouse (rough)
A half (50 cents)
Gasper (cigarette)
Gat (gun)
Gate (the door; to leave, as in, “Show him the gate.”)
Gee (man)
Geetus (money)
Getaway sticks (legs)
Giggle juice (liquor)
Gin mill (bar)
Girlie (woman)
Glad rags (dress-up clothes)
Glom (to steal or to take a gander at)
Go climb up your thumb (get outta here)
Gonif (Yiddish word for thief)
Goofy (crazy)
Goog (black eye)
Goon (thug)
Goose (man)
Grab air (put up your hands)
Graft (stealing from profits or any type of con)
Grand ($1,000)
Greasers (generic term for various hoods and punks)
Grift (a con, confidence game, swindle)
Grifter (con man)
Grilled (interrogated)
Gum (screw up, as in “gum up the works”; also opium)
Gum-shoe (a detective)
Gun for (to be going after with intent to kill—or at least do something bad to)
Guns (hoods and pickpockets)
Gunsel (various meanings: a gunman, a brat, an informer, a male sodomist)
Hack (taxi)
Hammer and saws (from the Cockney rhyming slang [see the upcoming “Cockney Rhyming Slang” section]—laws or, by extension, the police)
Hard (tough)
Hash house (a low-class restaurant)
Hatchetmen (hired goons)
Head doctors (psychiatrists)
Heap (car)
Heat (a gun, also heater)
Heeled (packing, carrying a gun)
Highbinders (corrupt politicians)
Hinky (suspicious)
Hitting on all eight (everything going smoothly; see ’20s slang “Hitting on all sixes”)
Hitting the pipe (smoking opium)
Hock shop (pawnshop)
Hogs (engines)
Hombre (a man)
Hooch (liquor)
Hood (hoodlum)
Hooker (a drink of a strong alcoholic beverage)
Hoosegow (jail)
Hop (drugs, a short term for bellhop)
Hop-head (a drug addict, heroin especially)
Horn (telephone)
Hot (stolen)
House dick (hotel detective, also “house peeper”)
Hype (shortchange artist)
Ice (diamonds)
In stir (in jail)
Jack (money)
Jake (okay)
Jam (trouble, as in “in a jam”)
Jane (a woman)
Java (coffee)
Jaw (to talk)
Joe (coffee)
Johns (police)
Joint (a place)
Joss house (a Chinese temple)
Jug (jail)
Juice (interest on a loan from a loan shark)
Jujus (marijuana cigarettes)
The jump (a hanging)
Junkie (a drug addict)
Kale (money)
Keister, keyster (1. a suitcase; 2. a safe or strongbox; 3. someone’s butt)
Kick (a complaint)
Kick off (to die)
Kicking the gong around (smoking opium)
Kiss (to punch)
Kisser (mouth)
Kitten (a woman)
Knock off (to kill)
Knockover (a heist, a job)
Large ($1,000, as in “His share of the take was fifteen large,” meaning $15,000.)
The law (cops)
Lead poisoning (to be shot)
Lettuce (money [bills])
Lid (a hat)
Lip (a lawyer, particularly one who defends criminals)
Lit (to be drunk)
Looker (an attractive woman)
Look-out (the guy who keeps watch during a heist, the outside man)
Lousy with (having an abundance)
Lug (1. a bullet; 2. someone’s ear; 3. a man, as in “Come ’ere ya big lug.”)
Made (to be recognized)
Map (face)
Mark (a potential victim, a sucker)
Mazuma (money)
Meat wagon (ambulance)
Mesca (marijuana)
Mickey Finn (1. a drink that has been drugged to knock someone unconscious; 2. as a verb, to go, to leave)
Mill (typewriter)
Mitt (hand)
Mob (a gang—in those days, it didn’t necessarily refer to the Mafia)
Moll (a gangster’s girlfriend)
Moniker (someone’s name)
Mouthpiece (a lawyer)
Mud-pipe (an opium pipe)
Mug (a face)
Muggles (marijuana)
Mugs (can refer to men, as in “They was a buncha dumb mugs.”)
Mush (face)
Nailed (arrested)
Nevada gas (cyanide)
Newshawk (a reporter)
Newsie (a newspaper seller)
Nicked (stole/stolen)
Nippers (handcuffs)
Nix on (to say no, as in “Nix on that, fella.”)
Noodle (head)
Nose-candy (one reference to heroin)
Number (can refer to a man or woman, as in “That’s the number you want over there” or “She’s a hot number.”)
Off the track (someone who is nuts, especially violently crazy)
On the lam (to be running from the cops)
Op (short for “operative”—a detective, especially a private one)
Pack (to carry, particularly a gun)
Palooka (a man, generally referring to someone not too bright; also, a mediocre boxer)
Pan (face)
Paste (to punch)
Patsy (someone who is being set up, also a fool, similar to a mark)
Paw (a hand)
Peeper (a detective)
Pen (the penitentiary)
Pigeon (a snitch, a stool-pigeon)
Pill (can be either a bullet or a cigarette)
Pinch (either a noun or a verb referring to an arrest)
Pipes (basically, someone’s voice, especially a singer: “She has great pipes.”)
Plant (a person inside the scene; to bury)
Plug (to shoot)
Poke (to hit; also a bankroll or cache of money)
Pooped (killed)
Pop (to kill)
Pro skirt (a prostitute)
Pug (a boxer)
Pump (hear)
Pump metal (to shoot a gun)
Punk (a hoodlum; also refers to someone in jail who “gets punked,” meaning to be taken advantage of sexually)
Puss (someone’s face)
Put down (to drink)
Put the screws on (to interrogate or get tough with someone)
Queer (1. something counterfeit or false; 2. sexually abnormal; 3. to screw something up, as in “You shouldn’ta come in just now. You really queered the deal.”)
Rags (clothes)
Rap (1. a criminal charge; 2. information, “the rap”; 3. a hit, as in a “rap on the knuckles”)
Rappers (phonies, setups)
Rat (to inform)
Rate (having value)
Rats and mice (dice, meaning craps)
Rattler (a train)
Reefers (joints, marijuana cigarettes)
Ringers (fakes, like rappers)
Rod (a gun)
Roscoe (a gun)
Roundheel (1. an easy woman; 2. a glass-jawed fighter)
Rube (a simpleton or potential mark, a country bumpkin)
Rub-out (a rub-out is a killing; to rub someone out is to kill them)
The rumble (news)
Sap (1. a blackjack; 2. a dope: “He’s a real sap.”)
Savvy (smarts)
Savvy? (“Do you understand?”)
Sawbuck (a $10 bill; a $20 bill was called a “double sawbuck”)
Schnozzle/schnozz (nose)
Scram/scram out (to leave)
Scratch (money)
Screw (1. to leave, so that if you said “screw” to someone, you meant, “Get out of here”; 2. a prison guard)
Send over (send to jail)
Shamus (a private detective)
Sharper (a con artist or swindler)
Shells (bullets)
Shine (bootlegged liquor)
Shiv (a knife)
Shylock (a loan shark)
Shyster (a lawyer)
Sing (to confess)
Sister (a woman, as in, “Listen sister, I’m not taking the fall for you or any skirt.”)
Skate around (what an easy woman does)
Skip out (to leave without paying your bill, or someone who does so)
Skirt (a woman)
Sleuth (a detective)
Slug (1. a bullet; 2. to hit or knock someone unconscious)
Smoked (drunk)
Snatch (to kidnap)
Snitch (to inform or someone who informs)
Snooper (a detective)
Snort (a drink, used as a snort of gin or whiskey, etc.)
Snow-bird (a cocaine addict)
Snowed/snowed up (to be drugged, probably on heroin or cocaine)
Sock (punch)
Soup (nitroglycerine)
Soup job (to use nitroglycerine to crack open a safe)
Spill (to talk, to give information)
Spinach (money)
Square (honest; to be “on the square” meant to tell the truth, like a straight shooter)
Squirt metal (to shoot)
Step off (to be hanged)
Sticks of tea (marijuana cigarettes)
Stiff (a corpse)
Sting (what a con game was all about)
Stoolie (a stool-pigeon)
Stool-pigeon (an informer, also pigeon)
Stringin’ (short for “stringing someone along,” meaning feeding them a line)
Sucker (a potential mark)
Swing (to hang)
Tail (to follow, to shadow someone; can be noun: “You have a tail” meant “someone is following you.”)
Take a powder (to leave)
Take the air (to leave)
Take the fall for (to take the rap for or to take the punishment for someone else)
Tea (marijuana)
The third degree (interrogation)
Three-spot (a jail term of three years)
Throw lead (shoot)
Ticket (a private investigator’s license)
Tighten the screws (to increase the pressure on someone)
Tin (a badge)
Tip a few (have a few drinks)
Tip your mitt (reveal something, same as “tip your hand”)
Tomato (a pretty woman)
Torcher (a torch singer)
Torpedoes (hired gunmen)
Trap (mouth)
Trigger man (a gunman)
Trouble boys (a term for gangsters)
Twist (a woman)
Two bits (25 cents, a quarter)
Under glass (incarcerated)
Weak sister (someone easy to dominate, a pushover)
Wear iron (to pack a heater, to carry a gun)
Wheats (pancakes)
White (1. gin; 2. all right)
Wire (used to refer to information, as in, “I got the wire on the latest caper.”)
Wise (refers to knowing; to “be wise” is to be in the know, to “put you wise” is to inform you)
Wooden kimono (a coffin)
Yap (mouth)
Yard ($100)
Yegg (a mediocre safecracker)
Zotzed (killed)
There’s an amazing amount of slang and many expressions that are associated with the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s a sample:
A gas (a lot of fun)
A trip (as in, “He’s a real trip.”)
Ape/Apesh*t (crazy, wild, pissed off)
Bad (good)
Badass (someone tough)
Bag (to steal)
Ball (have sex)
Bogart (to hog something, generally a joint)
Boogie (to get going)
Book (to “book” was to leave somewhere, also “bug out” or “blow this popstand”)
Bookin’ (moving fast)
Boss (cool)
Bread (money)
Brew (beer)
Brodie (to skid a car 180 degrees)
Bummer (a drag)
Burn rubber (to accelerate so fast your tires spin)
Candyass (something really lame or someone wimpy)
Cat (a guy, as in “a cool cat”)
Chick (a female)
Cool (good, still often used)
Copasetic (everything’s all right)
Dope (drugs, most often marijuana)
Fag hag (a woman/girl who likes to spend time with homosexual men)
Foxy (attractive, generally referring to a female)
Fuzz/the Heat/the Man (cops)
Groovy (good)
Heavy (not a precise term, could mean very serious or very intense or very pushy, as in, “Hey man, don’t heavy out on me.”)
Hip (to be cool)
Jive turkey (a jerk)
Keep on truckin’ (carry on)
Old man/old lady (someone’s partner)
Outta sight (really great)
Pad (home, as in, “Come over to my pad tonight.”)
Psychedelic (something really amazing)
The rabbit died (a way to describe that someone is pregnant)
Right on! (totally righteous, total agreement)
Righteous (really good, as in, “This is some righteous hash, man.”)
Straight (the establishment, not hip)
Streak (to run naked in public)
Almost every decade we invent new words and phrases. Following the cultural expansions of the ’70s, the ’80s offered a few new expressions, many of which have remained in our language today, while others pretty much date the speaker.
As if (response to something you don’t agree with)
Bad (good)
Brody (a policeman)
Chill (to take it easy; also, “chill out” or “take a chill pill,” meaning “relax”)
Cool beans (cool, awesome)
Crib (someone’s home)
Def (really cool and hip)
Dope (like def—very hip)
Dude/dudette (carryover from previous eras: a cool guy or girl, also a greeting, as in “Dude!”)
Dufus (dork)
Duh (like saying, “That’s so obvious.”)
Dweeb (a very uncool character)
Fly (hip and cool)
Fresh (something original or really cool)
Gag me with a spoon (valley-girl talk for “disgusting”)
Geek (sort of like a dweeb)
Heinous (something not good, not really as bad as the literal meaning of the word)
Homeboy/homey (a friend, one could say, “Hey homey, howzit?”)
Hood (neighborhood)
Kickin’ (something fun and exciting)
Killer (really cool)
Like (a modifier, sometimes a replacement for other verbs, in common use among some groups: “He was like, ‘I’m serious, dude,’ and I was like, ‘No way,’ and he was like all over me, and I was like outta there.”)
Major (something significant or very cool)
Nerd (kinda like a dweeb and a geek, but often refers to someone who is into computers or something dorky)
No way (“You’re kidding” or “Absolutely not”)
Oh my god (OMG: common expression started with val-speak as originated in Southern California among so-called “valley girls,” who were popularized in Frank Zappa’s song, “Valley Girl” and in movies such as Clueless and Wayne’s World.)
Psyche (fooled you)
Slang that carried over from other eras (stoked, rad, preppie, poser)
Solid (for sure, as in, “You going tonight?” “Solid, man.”)
Stellar (really good)
To the max (extreme)
Tubular (older skate term for really cool)
Way (opposite of “no way,” meaning “for sure”)
Way cool (very cool)
Whatever (a way of responding to something someone says without really responding: “Whatever, dude.”)
Wicked (really cool)
Word (agreement)
Yo (“Hey”)
Yuppie (Young Urban Professional: what hippies became)
Gradually, ’80s slang evolved into ’90s slang. People are so creative!
’Sup (what’s up)
All (used similarly to “like” in the ’80s, as in, “He was all, ‘Give me something, honey,’ and I was all, ‘No way,’ and he was all mean and stupid, and I was all freaked out.”)
Atari (a description in some circles of a bad DJ)
Back in the day (former times)
Bama (a redneck, short for Alabama)
Blazed (refers to smoking weed)
Bling bling (nice jewelry)
The bomb (the best)
Bone out (to leave, to go)
Brutal (bad)
Buggin’ (tripping out)
Carried over from other slang, but still used in the ’90s (dope, dude, duh, chill, chill out, crib, fly, freaked out, fresh, oh my god, old school, pig, piggy, po po, whatever!, wicked)
Chapped (annoyed)
Chica (girl)
Chick flick (a movie guys think women would like, generally missing good car crashes, gratuitous violence, frontal nudity, and so on—lots of drama and good dialogue and tear-jerking moments, though)
Damn skippy (exactly)
Dank (awesome)
Dawg (friend)
Dead presidents (paper money)
Deal (to deal with, to cope with what happens)
Don’t go there (“Let’s change the subject.”)
Ecstasy (MDMA, a designer drug, also known as E and X)
Fine (nice, good-looking, word, yo)
Gank (to steal)
Get a room (said to people engaging in PDAs—no, not personal data accessories, but public displays of affection)
Getting jiggy (dancing or putting the moves on someone; also “I’m jiggy with that,” meaning “I’m down with it,” meaning “It’s all right with me.”)
Going postal (going crazy, getting violent)
Hella (very)
Hottie (a nice-looking guy or gal, depending on the observer)
Jack (nothing, as in, “I got jack”; or to steal, as in, “He jacked a car last night.”)
Jack someone up (to beat them up)
Junk (a universal descriptor that can refer to just about anything: “That’s total junk,” “What was all that junk going on last night?” and so on)
Like (used the same way as “like” in the ’80s)
Mad (extremely)
My bad (my mistake)
Not! (often used just after saying something you don’t mean, as in “I really dig Brussels sprouts...not!”)
Peace out (goodbye)
Phat (very hip or very enticing)
Props (respect, as in, “You gotta give the guy his props.”)
Rolling (being high on Ecstasy)
Salty (angry)
Score! (an expression relating to success at something—can relate to success with the opposite sex, but not necessarily)
Shady (unfair, disreputable)
Sweet (nice, cool)
Talk to the hand (I’m not interested)
Throw down (to fight)
Tight (the best)
Too much information (TMI, similar to, “Let’s not go there.”)
Trippin’ (getting too obsessed with something)
Tweak (can refer to drugs, such as crystal meth, or to using drugs—also “tweakin’”)
Whacked (crazy or screwed up)
What up? (What’s going on?)
Yada yada yada (a way to make a long story short by skipping the details)
You go, girl (good for you)
I’ve included surfer slang because a lot of expressions from the surfer culture were ultimately included in common slang throughout the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and, to some degree (especially among Baby Boomers) today.
Amped (excited, stoked)
Awesome (common expression for something really cool)
Baggies (swim trunks that were oversized and baggy, as opposed to the trim Speedos often worn by non-surfers—baggies became common and were used by people all over the world, but started with surfers)
Beach bunny (a girl who likes to hang out on the beach and watch the surfers, or any girl on the beach)
The Big Kahuna (from the Hawaiian word, came to mean someone of importance)
Bitchin’ (very cool, primo)
Bodacious (beautiful or impressive, as in, “She’s a bodacious dudette.”)
Bogus (wrong)
Boss (great)
Bro/Bra (short for “brother,” but a common way to refer to someone)
Bummer (a downer)
Ding (a hole or dent in a surfboard, became a common term for any little scratch or dent in something that is [generally] in good shape)
Dork (dumbass)
Dude (a guy, a girl might be a dudette)
Dweeb (a fool or someone acting like an idiot)
Excellent (used as a comment by itself)
Fer sure (a way of expressing agreement)
Geek (someone just not with it)
Gnarly (can mean dangerous or difficult, or it can mean cool or bitchin’; also hairy)
Hot dogging (showing off)
Max out (to take something up to or past its limits)
Mondo (big)
Off the wall (strange or odd in a good way)
Outrageous (like excellent, an expression of how good something is)
Poser (a wannabe)
Primo (the best)
Rad/radical (another way of saying something is really good or cool)
Selling Buicks (vomiting)
Shred (to do something really well—one could be a “shredder”)
Stoked (really happy or content)
Wipe out (to fall off your board, to go over the falls)
Woodie (a wooden-sided station wagon)
A lot of skateboard slang has to do with descriptions of tricks. I won’t go into all that. If you’re really interested in getting all the skateboard tricks, a little research on the Internet will get you what you need. Here’s a small sample of skateboard slang to whet your appetite.
Bomb a hill (to skateboard down a big hill)
Burly (a trick with risk of injury is burly, and someone who likes these tricks can also be called burly)
Bust (to skate well; to “bust a trick” is to do it well)
Carve (making a big, fast turn)
Catch (stop the board from rotating by getting your feet on it while in the air)
Darkside (the bottom of a skateboard—the board is “darkside” if it is upside down)
Focus (to break a board in half)
Gnarly (really good, sick)
Grind (any trick where the hangers of the trucks grind along the end of a surface)
Grommet (little kids who skate)
Hipper (a bad bruise on the hip)
Line (a series of tricks performed one after the other or a planned skate course)
Ollie (a basic aspect of skateboard tricks that involves smacking the back of the board down with the back foot while the front foot raises the front of the board into the air)
Pig/FiveO/Po Po (derogatory terms for police)
Poser (someone who pretends to be a skateboarder or who pretends to be anything they are not)
Pro ho (a female who likes to hang out with pro skaters)
Ripper (a really good, consistent skater)
Sketch/sketchy (an unsmooth trick or a person or situation that is not quite right)
Spot (somewhere you can skate)
Wallie (getting all four trucks in contact with a wall)
The British have developed their own unique form of slang, which is often heard in British movies and read in books by British authors. It tends to be colorful, imaginative, and sometimes rhyming.
Advert (advertisement)
Aerial (antenna)
Afterthought (youngest child)
As near as damnit (very close)
Auntie Beeb (BBC)
Barmy (crazy)
Barney (a tiff, squabble)
Bird (girl)
Bloke (fellow)
Blower (telephone)
Bluebottle (policeman)
Bobbie (policeman)
Bonnet (the hood of a car)
Bottle (courage)
Brekkies (breakfast)
Broads (playing cards)
Bungalow Bill (a dimwit)
Bunk off (skip school)
Busker (street musician)
Cabbage (money)
Cack-handed (left-handed)
Chemist (pharmacist)
Chokey (prison)
Click (kilometer)
Clobber (personal items)
Collywobbles (nervous stomach)
Cor! (God!)
Cousins (Americans)
Crisps (potato chips)
Cuppa (cup of tea)
Dab hand (aficionado)
Daft (stupid or foolish)
Demister (defroster)
Dial (face)
Dodgy gear (stolen items)
Dropped (arrested)
Elmer (an American tourist)
Fag (cigarette)
Fancy (to like or take a liking to, to imagine)
Fiddle (swindle)
Flaps (ears)
Get stuffed (go to hell)
Give over (stop, cease)
Go spare (get angry)
Gobsmacked (astonished)
Graft (hard work, also a grafter is a hard worker)
Grammar (textbook)
Grotty (ugly)
Hoover (to clean/vacuum)
Indicators (turn signals)
Jacket potato (baked potato)
Jakes (men’s toilet)
Jubbly (money)
Knackered (tired)
Larder (pantry)
Lift (elevator)
Loo (toilet)
Macintosh (raincoat)
Mauley (fist)
Mum (mother)
Noel (coward)
Nosh (food, snacks)
Noughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe)
Nuppence (no money)
Nutter (a crazy person)
Oofy (rich)
Owt (anything)
Park a custard (vomit)
Pasty (a filled pastry, rhymes with “nasty”)
Pissed (drunk)
Pit (bed)
Post (mail)
Prezzie (present)
Queue (a line, as in waiting in line)
Quid (British pound)
Ramp (swindle)
Rhino (money)
Scroat (a despicable person)
Scrotty (dirty)
Scrummy (delicious)
Shag (to have sex)
Spanner (wrench)
Sparkers (unconscious)
Tea (evening meal)
Torch (flashlight)
Tots (shot of booze)
Trainspotter (a nerd)
Unmentionables (underwear)
Vest (undershirt)
Vet (to inspect)
Wedge (sandwich)
Wonky (off kilter)
Zizz (a nap)
Cockney rhyming slang is famous throughout the English-speaking world for its humor and imaginative use of rhyming words to refer to other items. It also once served as a sort of code that allowed the people of ill repute in London’s East End to communicate with each other without being understood by outsiders, though it is not clear where it originally came from. The slang itself became best known due to the efforts of law enforcement officials, who published manuals to teach their officers how to understand the language used by the criminals of the area.
Adam and Eve (believe)
Airs and graces (faces)
Alligator (later)
Almond rocks (socks)
Apples and pears (stairs)
Aris (arse)
Aristotle (bottle)
Army and Navy (gravy)
Arnold Palmer (farmer)
Babbling brook (crook)
Bacon and eggs (legs)
Baked potato (see you later)
Bangers and mash (cash or slash) (urinate)
Biscuit and cheese (knees)
Bottle and stopper (copper) (police)
Bottle of beer (ear)
Bottle of sauce (horse)
Bottle of scotch (watch)
Bottle of water (daughter)
Bread and honey (money)
Bricks and mortar (daughter)
Bright and breezy (easy)
Brown bread (dead)
Bubble and squeak (someone of Greek origin) (derogatory)—may have other meanings, such as beak (which somehow stands for magistrate); also a dish made with mashed potatoes, cabbage (typically), and various leftovers
Bucket and pail (jail)
Hammer and saws (laws) (police)
Near and far (car)
English-speaking people all over the world have created their own regional expressions, and the Aussies were as colorful and imaginative as any. Australian slang was not well known outside of Australia until the Crocodile Dundee movies, which introduced the world to some of their best-known sayings.
Ankle biter (a kid)
Apples (all right, as in, “He’ll be apples.”)
Barbie (barbeque)
Beaut/beauty (fantastic)
Bities (biting insects)
Blue (fight: “They had a blue at the watering hole the other night.”)
Bush (the wild outdoors, the Outback)
Bush oyster (nasal mucus)
Bush telly (campfire)
Bushranger (outlaw, highwayman)
Cactus (nonfunctional)
Chunder (vomit, also “liquid laugh”)
Cobber (friend)
Coldie (a beer)
Corker (something excellent)
Cut lunch (sandwiches)
Dead horse (tomato sauce)
Digger (soldier)
Dipstick (loser)
Docket (bill, receipt)
G’day (hello)
Good onya (good for you, well done)
Gutful of piss (drunk)
Knock (to criticize, also a knocker is someone who criticizes)
Lob/lob in (to visit, drop in for a visit)
Mate (friend)
Matilda (a bed roll)
Mystery bag (sausage)
No worries (no problem)
Nuddy, in the (naked)
Piss (beer)
Porky (a lie, from “pork pie”)
Quid (making a living)
Rage (party, also “rage on” is to party on)
Rotten (drunk)
Schooner (a large glass of beer)
Seppo (an American)
Sheila (a woman)
Spit the dummy (get angry)
Stoked (pleased)
Swagman (hobo)
Tucker (food)
Veg out (relax in front of the TV)
Walkabout (traditional walk through the Outback done as a rite of passage by the Aborigines)
Whacker (idiot)
Woop Woop (any small, unimportant town—generic term)
Yabber (talk a lot)
A lot of Yiddish words have become common expressions in the English language, although not all speakers know the literal meanings of the words.
Bupkis/bopkis (nothing or of very little value)
Chutzpah (nerve, guts)
Cockamamie (ridiculous)
Farklempt (choked up)
Futz (to fiddle around, fuss, procrastinate)
Ganif (thief)
Gelt (money)
Glitch (minor malfunction)
Goyem (non-Jews)
Klezmer (a musician)
Klutz (someone who is clumsy)
Kvetch (to complain or to be a complainer)
Mazel tov (congratulations)
Megila (a long, drawn-out story)
Mensch (a good man)
Meshuggenah (crazy)
Mish mash (disorganized, a mess)
Mishegas (a crazy situation, a mess)
Nebish (nerd)
Nosh (snack)
Nudge (a pest, pronounced nuj more or less)
Schiksa (non-Jewish woman)
Schlemiel (screw-up, dope, fool)
Schlepping (carrying something heavy, doing a lot of walking and carrying)
Schlimazel (someone who’s unlucky)
Schmaltz (chicken fat, also overly sentimental)
Schmatta (a rag—often refers to “this old dress?”)
Schmootz (dirt)
Schmooze (to mingle, make small talk)
Schnapps (booze)
Shlump (a slob)
Shmendrik (a stupid person)
Shpiel (or Spiel) (a long speech, a sales job)
Shpilkes (nervousness)
Shtick (a routine or repetitive behavior)
Shtup (have sex)
Yente (busybody, gossip)
English has taken on distinctly local flavors in various parts of the world, and none more colorful than the slang that developed in Jamaica and the Caribbean, particularly among the Rastafarians. This slang became better known to the rest of the world through the reggae music of Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, and others, as well as in movies such as The Harder They Come.
Babylon (the establishment)
Bad (good)
Bald-head (someone who works for Babylon, no dreads)
Beast (policeman)
Black up (smoke weed)
Bucky (homemade gun)
Clot (means “cloth” but common in nasty expressions, such as bumbo clot, meaning butt cloth or toilet paper)
Craven (greedy)
Darkers (sunglasses)
Dogheart (a cold, cruel person)
Dreadlocks (traditional hairstyle, never combed or cut)
Fas’ (to be rude or meddling)
Ganja (marijuana)
Gorgon (really cool dreadlocks)
Haile Selassie (revered Ethiopian leader considered to be the Lion of Judah and personification of the Almighty)
I & I (we, us)
I-man (me, mine)
I-rey (a greeting, or can mean excellent)
Irie (greeting, or as an adjective, powerful/pleasing)
Jah (god)
Ku ya (look here)
Leggo beas’ (out of control, as in “let go, beast”)
Manners (discipline or punishment, for instance, “The town was under heavy manners” means they have a curfew or there is martial law)
Slang continues to evolve, and there’s no way to keep up with modern terminology. Here are some reasonably contemporary expressions, but new words and phrases seem to enter our language almost daily, so no list of contemporary slang will ever be completely up to date. The best sources of information are songs, stories, and websites devoted to youth culture and to different ethnic group interests.
Banging (doing gang-related things)
Barrio/varrio (the neighborhood)
Base head (someone addicted to cocaine)
Bo/bud (marijuana)
Bone out (to leave)
Boo ya (totally fine, dope)
Booty (bad or not good, bottom, can mean stolen goods)
Breakdown (shotgun)
Bucket (old car)
Buster (a young person who wants to be a gang member)
Cap (to shoot at)
Chingasos (fighting)
Chota (police)
Click up (to get along well with a homeboy)
Cluck (someone who smokes cocaine)
Cop a ’tude (have an attitude)
Crunked (high)
Cuzin (friend)
Dis (to disrespect someone)
Drockers (great sound system)
Drop a dime (to rat someone out)
Flag (a handkerchief in gang colors)
Flying colors (wearing gang colors)
Gat (gun)
Generation Alpha (people born after 1999)
Generation X (people born between 1980 and 1989)
Generation Z (people born between 1990 and 1999)
Glazing (sleeping at school or work with eyes open)
Green (money)
Ho (whore or sleazy woman)
Hook up (to connect, mostly to have some kind of sexual encounter)
I hear that/I heard that (I agree)
Jawn (all purpose noun, can refer to just about anything)
Jet (leave)
Kickin’ it (just relaxing)
Laters (see you later)
Lit up (shot at)
Loc (locos)
Mad dog (a hard stare)
Metrosexual (an urban male who spends a lot on appearance but isn’t homosexual)
Murk (hurt, kill, murder)
No diggity (for sure)
O.G. (original gangster, may refer to someone who has killed someone)
On hit (good, excellent)
Peace’n (not looking for trouble)
Peeps (people)
Phat (way good)
Popo (police)
Posse (group of friends)
Shorti (girlfriend)
Simon (yes)
Slinging rock (selling cocaine)
Soda (cocaine)
Strapped (carrying a gun)
To be down with (to be in agreement with)
Whadup or whadup dawg (just saying hi)
This is a compilation of slang from several eras that’s specific to cops, criminals, and parolees. You’ll find modern terms, as well as terms that were in use back in the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s. Many of these terms are appropriate to modern usage, even those that seem older.
Ad seg (administrative segregation—parolee)
AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System)
Alphas (someone with prior contact with the police or a prior record)
APS (national Automated Property System database)
Assist (to call for backup)
At large (someone who is wanted or a suspect or parolee who is not accounted for)
Auto burg (a locked auto break-in)
Backup (to call for help at a specific location/event, or a noun referring to someone there to assist)
Bad guy (a crime suspect, a serious criminal)
Bag man (guy who collects bribes or picks up protection money)
Bail (1. a security deposit or bond to guarantee someone’s appearance in court; 2. to leave)
Bars (lieutenant’s insignia, also a promotion to lieutenant)
Beat cop (a policeman who patrols a particular area, his “beat”)
Beater (an old beat-up car)
Beef (a crime)
Blow (cocaine)
Blow away (to kill someone, particularly with a gun)
Bogey (a cop)
BOLO (cop term standing for “be on the lookout”)
Book (1. processing a criminal into the system; 2. to go or leave hurriedly)
Box (polygraph, lie detector)
Box lab (a small-scale clandestine drug laboratory)
Brass (the higher officers in the police department)
Bucket (jail)
Bullet (generally references a one-year prison term, in addition to its normal meaning as ammunition)
Burg (short for burglary)
Burgin’ (a crime spree of burglaries)
Bus (cop term for an ambulance)
Bust (1. to arrest or raid a location; also, as a noun, an arrest or raid; 2. to reduce someone’s rank; 3. to break or smash up something; 4. to hit someone, as in “bust them in the chops”)
Buzz (a badge, or to display a badge)
C/O (correctional officer)
Can (jail/prison)
Case (1. a crime investigation and report; 2. a nut case)
Case number (the number assigned to a case when it comes through dispatch)
Cash in (to die)
Centerpunch (to broadside, as in a traffic accident)
Check-by (a police call for minor assistance)
Chip/chippy (1. girlfriend or mistress of a cop; 2. “Chips” is also a nickname for the California Highway Patrol; 3. infrequent use of narcotics)
Choir practice (a police party or social gathering)
Chop shop (where stolen cars are disassembled for parts to be sold)
Cite (issue a ticket)
Cite out (release from jail on a signed promise to appear, no bail required)
Citizen (someone not in the police force)
Civilian (someone not in the police force)
Clan lab (place where methamphetamine or other drugs are made)
CLETS (data interchange switcher for state data files, outside information)
Clink (prison)
Clobber (1. to hit someone; 2. to severely criticize; 3. to thoroughly defeat)
Clock (1. to hit someone, usually a serious assault; 2. to notice something)
Clout (stealing from an unlocked vehicle)
Code (meal break, from Code-7)
Code-1 (no particular hurry, whenever convenient)
Code-2 (some urgency, get moving)
Code-3 (all-out emergency, lights and sirens)
Code-33 (emergency situation, emergency radio traffic only)
Code-4 (under control, no further assistance necessary)
Code-5 (stakeout)
Code-6 (on foot, walking patrol)
Code-7 (meal break)
Cold (old, past event)
Cold paper (report on an old crime)
Cold turkey (1. quitting drug addiction without help; 2. someone with a cold personality; 3. procedural methods)
Come across (to comply with an order or request)
Comes back (information from a remote source)
Complainant (someone who has called the police into the situation or who is pressing charges)
Complaint (the formal criminal charge)
Conk (1. the head; 2. a blow to the head)
Conked out (1. to stop functioning; 2. to fall asleep or pass out; 3. to die)
Cook (1. make methamphetamine; 2. to prepare drugs for shooting up)
Cooker (someone who makes methamphetamine)
Cool (1. good; 2. it’s okay, as in “It’s cool with me”; 3. “It’s worth a cool 10 Gs.”)
Cool it (1. chill; 2. stop what you’re doing)
Cop (1. to steal; 2. to get something or to win something; 3. to take something illicit, as in “cop a feel”; 4. the police, the Man)
Cop a plea (to enter a guilty plea to a lesser charge)
Cop out (to avoid doing something expected of you)
Cop the plate (to take down a license plate number)
Copper (police)
CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information)
Cough up (to give something demanded of you, willingly or not)
Cover (assisting another officer)
Cover unit (an officer on roving assignment to assist)
Crank (methamphetamine)
Cranked (stoned on methamphetamine)
Crash (a motor vehicle accident)
Creating (short for “creating a disturbance”)
Crook (a criminal or suspected criminal)
Cross (short for “cross street”)
CSI (crime scene investigator)
D.L. (driver’s license)
Deal (1. to buy and sell illegal drugs; 2. to cope with a situation)
Deck (a package of narcotics)
Dee wee (police term for a DWI [Driving
While Intoxicated])
Detail (an assignment or service call)
Deuce (a drunk driver)
Dime (10, $10 worth of narcotics (also “dime bag”), 10 years in jail)
Dirty (guilty)
Do (1. to kill someone, also “do in”; 2. to take drugs; 3. to cheat someone, as in “do them out of their cash”)
DOB (date of birth)
Dog call (a police term for a boring and unserious assignment)
Dope (illegal narcotics)
Dopin’ (participation in use/sales and manufacture of illegal drugs)
Dorm (housing unit)
Double-deuce gat (.22 caliber pistol)
Down for (guilty of or responsible for)
Down paper (reports that need to be prepared)
Drive-by (to go somewhere for observation)
Drop (to take acid)
Drop a dime/dime (1. make a call; 2. to inform on someone—a term used since the ’20s when a pay phone call cost a dime)
Druggie (drug addict or anyone who uses drugs)
DT (street slang for a detective)
DUI/DWI (driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated)
Duke in (to introduce or vouch for someone within criminal circles)
DV (domestic violence)
E (Ecstasy)
Feebie (FBI agent)
Felon (someone convicted of a felony)
Felony (a serious crime that carries a prison sentence if the felon is found guilty)
FI (field interview)
Finger (1. to identify or point out; 2. to inform on)
Fink (a snitch)
Fixit ticket (a citation for mechanical problems, no fine imposed if fixed within a specified time)
Flash (1. to remember something suddenly; 2. to expose yourself in public, also “flasher”); 3. something ostentatious; 4. the rush associated with a drug hit)
Flatfoot (a cop, particularly a beat cop)
Floater (a corpse found floating in water)
FST (field sobriety test)
FTA (failure to appear at a court hearing)
FTP (failure to pay a court-imposed fine)
Fuzz (police)
G.P. (general population in prison)
Gaff (1. a trick used to rig a game, or as a verb, to rig a game; 2. abuse; 3. to swindle someone)
Gangbanger (a gang member)
Garnish (extorted money, especially by a jailer from a new prisoner)
Gat (a gun, generally a pistol)
Gated out (released from prison)
Go by complaint (charging a crime by affidavit without prior arrest)
GOA (gone on arrival)
Going down (something happening, as in “It’s going down at 3.”)
Good for it (they did it, or at least they could have done it)
Goon (1. someone hired to threaten and/or harm enemies or victims; 2. an idiot)
Guff (1. bull; 2. back talk)
Gyp (to cheat or swindle)
Hall (juvie, the juvenile hall)
Hard-ass (someone who follows the rules to the letter)
Heat (firearm, police, problems, adverse attention)
Heavy (a mobster)
Hit (information match found; i.e., warrant is outstanding)
Ho (a prostitute)
Hook (1. a tow truck; 2. the driver of a tow truck; 3. an auto wrecker; 4. as a verb, to arrest or to tow a car)
Hook up (To arrest, or more specifically, to handcuff)
Hooked up with (involved with, as in a relationship)
Hooker (a street prostitute)
Hoopty (a dilapidated old car)
Hoosegow (jail)
Hootch (1. liquor, particularly low-grade or bootlegged; 2. marijuana)
Joint (1. a place, generally low-class; 2. a marijuana cigarette; 3. prison)
Hot (1. freshly stolen or anything stolen; 2. someone wanted by the cops; 3. descriptive of ability, as in, “He’s really hot with videogames”; 4. sexy or otherwise impressive, as in a “hot chick” or a “hot sportscar”; 5. being lucky, as in “a hot streak”; 6. something current, opposite of “cold”)
Hot prowl (burglary of an occupied dwelling)
Hustle/hustled (1. to acquire or peddle something, as in, “He hustled stolen car parts all over the city”; 2. to put pressure on someone to buy or do something; 3. to play a con game by pretending to be a beginner at something, as in hustling pool; 4. to get something illegally; 5. as a noun, a con or swindle)
Hustler (1. a street prostitute; 2. someone who hustles others)
IA (Internal Affairs)
Ice (1. diamonds; 2. methamphetamine; 3. to kill someone; 4. a scalper’s profit over list price on a ticket to an event; 5. to clinch or ensure victory)
IFO (in front of)
III (someone who has a record from another state)
Impound (taking and storing a car for various reasons, also the place the car is taken)
In custody (under arrest, under control)
In progress (happening now)
Incident (refers to a police action that does not require a formal report)
Infraction (a minor violation punishable by fines only)
Ink (tattoo)
Intel (information/intelligence)
Invoke (short for “invoke the 5th Amendment” or exercise one’s right to remain silent)
Issue (the original crime of a prisoner or parolee)
J (refers to kids under 18—juveniles)
Jam (to get out, split, scram, blow this popstand)
Jam up (annoy, anger, harass)
Juice (political power/influence)
Junk (drugs, typically heroin [archaic])
K&A (knock and announce)
Kite (a note or letter, parolee or prisoner)
Knock and announce (process for serving a search warrant)
Knock and talk (go to talk to someone without a warrant)
Lawyer up (to request or to be represented by an attorney)
Legit (legitimate)
Lifer (1. a career military individual; 2. someone serving a life sentence)
Light ’em up (turn on emergency lights and siren)
Line-up (daily meeting at beginning of day for the patrol team)
Lo (legal owner)
Loaded (stoned on drugs)
Loo (police slang for “lieutenant”)
Loot (money or what is gained in a heist)
LT (lieutenant)
Magazine/mag (where the ammunition goes in a gun)
Mahaska (a concealed firearm)
Make the bucket (get arrested)
Mark (a potential victim of a swindle, robbery, etc.)
Masher (a man who forces himself on women)
MDS (Mobile Data System; the patrol vehicle video screen)
MDT (Mobile Data Terminal; the patrol vehicle video screen)
Mechanical (traffic citation for equipment violation)
Mickey Finn (a drink drugged with knockout drops)
Miranda (legal statement informing a suspect of his/her right to remain silent)
Misdemeanor (a crime less serious than a felony with lower punishments)
Mitt (hand/fist)
Monkey (1. someone who is made a fool of; 2. a term for drug addiction)
Mover (traffic citation for a hazardous violation)
Mug (1. a victim; 2. make faces at, taunt, harass)
Mug shot (the picture taken when someone is arrested)
MUPS (Missing Persons database)
Nail (1. to stop or capture; 2. to catch or find someone out; 3. to take down someone or something; 4. to do something really well)
Narc (narcotics officer)
NCF (No Complaint Filed)
NCIC (National Crime Information Center, group of national crime databases)
Nick (steal)
Nickel (5—$5 worth of narcotics, 5 years in jail)
No sweat (no problem)
Off the hook (to be released from blame or charges)
Off/offed (1. go away; 2. to kill or be killed)
On ice (1. certainty of success; 2. in reserve; 3. out of circulation; 4. in a bad situation, as in “on thin ice”)
On the box (taking a lie-detector test)
On-view (witnessed)
OZ (ounce of narcotics, usually heroin)
P.C. (protective custody)
Packin’ (carrying a firearm)
Palooka (originally a mediocre fighter, now a big dumb guy)
Paper (1. report and investigation; 2. search warrant)
Parkers (citations for parking violations)
PAS (Preliminary Alcohol Screening device, pronounced “pazz”)
Pat down (a quick search for weapons)
Patsy (a victim of cheating or ridicule)
PC (Probable Cause)
Perimeter (exterior positions at a crime scene)
Perp (the person who did it, or at least a suspect—the perpetrator)
PERS (state Personnel Retirement System)
Photo lineup (a grouping of six photos, one of which is the suspect, used for witnesses to identify)
Pig (a cop)
Plastic (credit card or ATM)
PO (Probation or Parole Officer)
Points (a way of assessing the risks involved with a prison inmate when released)
Poke (to hit someone)
Pokey (jail/prison)
Pop (arrest)
Po-po (police officer)
Precursors (chemicals used in the manufacture of illegal drugs, especially methamphetamine)
Prelim (preliminary examination)
Priors (previous arrests)
Prison (area of confinement for criminals)
Prisoner (someone in custody or an inmate)
Probation search (searching the home or car of someone on probation)
Program (how a prisoner does his/her time)
Pruno (homemade prison alcohol)
PX (1. same as prelim; 2. polygraph examination)
QOA (quiet on arrival)
Rabbit (police term for a fleeing suspect)
Railroad tracks (insignia of captain, promotion to captain)
Rap (1. a criminal charge; 2. a reprimand or bad mark, such as, “He has a bad rap”; 3. beat the rap—to get away with)
Rap sheet (official police or FBI record of criminal arrests and dispositions)
Rat (1. a prior criminal record [priors]; 2. a snitch or any basic louse)
Red-P (red phosphorus, a chemical in making methamphetamine)
Reg (generally refers to the status of a vehicle registration)
Reg out (expired vehicle registration)
Respond (to go to the scene)
Responsible (a crime suspect)
Ride (a vehicle)
Rig (the paraphernalia involved in shooting drugs)
Ripoff (a thief or a theft, also “rip off”—a verb meaning to steal)
RO (registered owner, usually of a motor vehicle)
Rock (1. crack cocaine; 2. a big jewel, usually a diamond)
Roll (to confess to a crime and/or to cooperate with the police)
Roll up (to arrest someone)
Roscoe (firearm)
RP (reporting party—whoever called the cops)
Run (check for warrants or the status of a vehicle, as in “run the plates”)
Run in (to arrest)
Run out (obtain data on a person or vehicle)
Sales (drug sales)
Sap/saphead (a dope, also a club)
Sarge (sergeant)
Scag (heroin)
Score (1. to complete a robbery; 2. to buy illegal drugs; 3. to have success with someone of the opposite sex)
Scratch (to issue a traffic citation)
Screw (1. a prison guard; 2. to have sex)
Scum/scumbag (someone you definitely don’t like or respect)
Search clause (a condition of probation that allows the person to be searched at any time)
Sector (a geographical division of a city)
Sergeant (someone who supervises police officers or detectives)
Shank (a prison-made knife)
Shiv (a knife or other cutting weapon)
Shop (police use this term to refer to their patrol car)
SHU (security housing unit—parolee term for prison)
Skate (1. to evade being caught or being charged with a crime; 2. to evade work)
Slam/slammer (jail)
Sleeved (tattooed arms)
Sling (indiscriminate sales or processing of narcotics)
Slug (bullet)
Smack (heroin)
Snatch (a kidnapping or to kidnap)
Snitch (1. to inform on someone; 2. to steal; 3. an informer; 4. a thief)
Social (social security number)
Speed (methamphetamine)
Speedball (a mix of cocaine with heroin or an amphetamine that’s taken by injection)
Spike (a hypodermic needle)
Spun (messed up by use of narcotics)
Stick-up (robbery)
Stiff (1. a corpse; 2. someone who’s drunk; 3. as a verb, to cheat or refuse to pay what’s owed)
Stooge (an informer, a stool pigeon)
Stoolie (another word for stool pigeon)
Stop (a vehicle pullover or pedestrian encounter)
Streetwalker (a street prostitute)
Strike (1. conviction of a crime [referring to the three-strikes law]; 2. stripes [sergeant’s insignia])
Stub (a traffic citation)
Sucker (1. an easy mark, someone to take advantage of; 2. a generic reference to people and things, as in “He’s a real dumb sucker,” or “Pass me that sucker over there.”)
Super court (superior court)
Sus (suspect)
Sustained (refers to a personnel complaint upheld by Internal Affairs)
SVS (state Stolen Vehicle System)
Sweat (to interrogate or to get information from someone under duress)
Sweat bullets (excessive sweating, generally as a result of anxiety, fear, or worry)
Sweat out (to wait or to endure something)
Tacs (prison term for tattoos)
Tag (1. to hit or assault or run into; 2. to draw graffiti on something)
Tagger (serious graffiti artist)
Take (arrest)
Take paper (make an official report)
Take the rap (to take the punishment or blame for someone else)
Talking smack (insulting, threatening, harassing, verbally abusing)
Tank (jail, particularly the community cell you’re brought to when first arrested)
Tat (tattoo, prison or jail tattoos in particular)
T-bone (to broadside, as in a traffic accident)
Tier (levels in a parolee housing unit)
Tipped up (gang-related)
Tool (someone who does someone else’s dirty work)
Topped out (off parole)
Tough (1. too bad; 2. great; 3. durable)
Tough it out (to get through something difficult)
Tracks (marks caused by damage to veins from injecting narcotics)
Trey-eight gat (.38 caliber revolver)
Trick (1. what a prostitute does with a john; 2. a theft)
TRO (Temporary Restraining Order)
Troll (1. to patrol; 2. as a noun, a patrol)
Turf (1. a territory controlled by a certain person or gang; 2. someone’s specific area of influence, expertise, or control)
Turfed (killed)
Unit (a police vehicle)
Valid (meaning someone’s driver’s license is not expired or suspended)
Verbal (1. confirmation of facts by voice; 2. verbal warning instead of a traffic citation)
Visual (able to see, under observation)
Walk (to skate, to be released without a charge)
Warner (same as “verbal”)
Warrant (an arrest order issued by the courts)
Waste (to kill someone)
Weed (marijuana)
Weirdo (someone strange or dangerously strange)
Went down (happened)
Whack (to kill someone)
Whacked out (seriously stoned)
Wobbler (a crime that can be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor)
X-unit (portable radio carried by officer)
Yard (the outdoor recreation area of a prison)
Yolked (muscular)
I distinguish buzzwords from slang because I think of buzzwords as those terms used in specific circumstances and/or by specific groups. For instance, in airports you are asked to report to the “white courtesy telephone” and to move down the “concourse.” In a court of law, you might hear a lawyer say, “I object,” and the judge say, “Sustained.” Or the judge may require the attorneys to “approach the bench.” In normal life, you might refer to the automated teller machine as the ATM.
I’ve listed some specific groups and locations/circumstances in which there occurs specific terminology, with a few examples under each category. Hopefully, this will inspire you to explore more sources and find more examples for any type of group you will be depicting in your games.
Keep in mind that some terminology changes, particularly with the increase in political correctness and the growing use of euphemisms to describe uncomfortable subjects. The use of PC terms depends largely on the timeframe and the culture of those speaking, as well as the intimacy of those conversing. People do tend to be less politically correct with people they are close to than with strangers or professional contacts.
Note that you can always make up your own buzzwords and slang, especially if you are creating a completely fictional location or setting.
Like other groups with unique vocabulary, the medical profession has created a lot of terms and expressions, some of which are simply useful while others seem to serve as a proprietary code among those in the know. I’ve divided this section into two lists. The first is that of the old-time historical terms, in case you’re dealing with doctors from the 19th century or something like that. The next list is more contemporary, in case you’re dealing with doctors or hospitals of the 20th or 21st century. Beyond that, you’re on your own. Neither of these lists is complete, but they can give you a taste of medical slang.
Modern medicine has a rich and complex language that has developed and changed over the last 50 years, but if you’re basing a game in an earlier time period, you might find it adds realism to refer to some more antiquated terms, as long as the player won’t be overly confused by them. Here are just a few terms from historical medical terminology:
Ague (malarial fever)
Apoplexy (paralysis due to stroke)
Bad blood (syphilis)
Black fever (acute infection with high temperature, dark-red skin lesions, and high mortality rate)
Black Plague or Black Death (bubonic plague)
Black vomit (vomiting old black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever)
Bloody flux (bloody stools)
Bright’s disease (chronic inflammatory disease of the kidneys)
Bronze John (yellow fever)
Camp fever (typhus, a.k.a. camp diarrhea)
Canine madness (rabies, hydrophobia)
Chilblain (swelling of extremities caused by exposure to cold)
Congestion (any collection of fluid in an organ, such as the lungs)
Consumption (tuberculosis)
Delirium tremens (hallucinations due to alcoholism)
Dock fever (yellow fever)
Dropsy (edema [swelling] often caused by kidney or heart disease)
Enteric fever (typhoid fever)
Flux (an excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhea)
Grippe/grip (influenza-like symptoms)
Horrors (delirium tremens)
Jail fever (typhus)
Lumbago (back pain)
Miasma (poisonous vapors thought to infect the air)
Milk fever (caused by contaminated milk)
Nervous prostration (extreme exhaustion from an inability to control physical and mental activities)
Plague (an acute, febrile, highly infectious disease with a high fatality rate)
Putrid fever (diphtheria)
Rickets (disease of skeletal system)
Rose cold (hay fever or nasal symptoms of an allergy)
Scarlet fever (a disease characterized by a red rash)
Screws (rheumatism)
Scrivener’s palsy (writer’s cramp)
Shakes (delirium tremens)
St. Vitus’s dance (condition characterized by involuntary jerking motions)
Viper’s dance (St. Vitus’s dance)
Winter fever (pneumonia)
Yellow jacket (yellow fever)
The world of modern medicine is loaded with terms. Some are the kinds of expressions you see on TV shows and movies with doctors and hospitals in them. Others are a bit more private and not really known by the general public. Although these latter expressions are not as useful in creating realistic scripts, they could still be considered, depending on the context or if you have a way for players to understand their meaning. I’ve included a few choice ones as examples. There are many, many more.
“Calling Doctor Blue” (meaning roughly, “I don’t understand this case. Can someone else come and try to figure it out?”)
Benny (a patient on benefits)
Blade (surgeon)
Blood suckers/leeches (lab techs who take blood)
Bordeaux (blood-stained urine)
Coffin dodger (elderly patient, particularly one who has survived against expectations)
DSTO (veterinary expression meaning “dog smarter than owner”)
Freud squad (psychiatrists)
Gassers (anesthetists)
GPO (good for parts only)
Meat hooks (surgical instruments)
Rose cottage (mortuary)
STAT (abbreviation of the Latin statim, meaning immediately)
TMB (too many birthdays)
Treat ’n street (emergency-room term for patients treated and released)
Here are a few choice excerpts from the extensive slang and jargon used by various military personnel. These are sample lists, greatly reduced in length, just to give you a sample of some of the colorful terms you could use in games.
Angels (refers to 1,000 feet in altitude—10,000 feet would be “angels ten”)
Angle of attack or A.O.A. (the wing angle relative to the forward flight path of the plane)
Angles (refers to the relative position of a plane in a dogfight, with a zero angle being directly behind the enemy)
Augured in (crashed)
Bag (1. as a verb, to collect or acquire; 2. as a noun, a flight suit or anti-exposure suit)
Bandit (an enemy plane)
Basement (the hangar deck of an aircraft carrier)
Bat turn (a tight turn)
Big chicken dinner (bad conduct discharge)
Bingo (minimum fuel required for safe return to base)
Birds (aircraft)
Blower (afterburner)
Blue water ops (aircraft carrier operations that take place beyond the reach of land bases)
Bogey (unidentified, potentially hostile aircraft)
Bohica (bend over, here it comes again)
Bought the farm (died)
Bravo Zulu (great job)
Burner (afterburner)
CAG (Commander Air Group)
Cat shot (an airplane launch from an aircraft carrier by means of catapult)
Check six (checking the rear for danger)
Cherubs (altitudes under 1,000 feet—cherubs five means 500 feet)
Envelope (the maximum performance of an aircraft, as in “pushing the envelope”)
Fox One, Two, etc. (radio call that refers to firing of air-to-air missiles—Fox One is a Sparrow, Fox Two refers to a Sidewinder, and Fox Three refers to a Phoenix missile)
G/Gs (forces equal to equivalent gravity—3 Gs is three times the pressure of normal gravity)
Go juice (fuel)
Goo (bad weather that causes extreme visibility problems)
Head on a swivel (keeping constant watch for enemies in all directions, also known as “doing the Linda Blair”)
HUD (heads-up display)
INS (inertial navigation system)
Jink (threat evasion by using a violent maneuver)
Judy (radio call indicating that an enemy is in sight and you are about to intercept)
Lights out (radar off)
Lost the bubble (got confused)
LSO (landing signal officer)
Mother (boat from which an aircraft is deployed or from which it launched)
Music (electronic countermeasures designed to deceive enemy radar)
No joy (failed to make visual sighting)
Padlocked (having a bogey locked in sights)
Passing gas (what a refueling plane does)
Pinging on (paying close attention to)
Plumber (an unskilled pilot)
Pole (control stick)
Pucker factor (an informal measurement of how scary something is)
Punch out (eject)
Roof (flight deck of the aircraft carrier)
SAM (surface-to-air missile)
SAR (search and rescue)
Sortie (a single-aircraft mission)
State (in radio communication, refers to the amount of fuel [in hours/minutes] you have before you run out and fall [splash]—the interchange would be “Say your state,” answered by, “Four plus three five to splash,” or 4 hours 35 minutes)
Tank (refuel)
Texaco (aerial tanker)
Throttle back (slow down or go easy)
Tilly (mobile crane on a carrier flight deck that picks up and moves disabled aircraft)
Trick or treat (if the aircraft does not successfully land on the current pass, it will need refueling)
Washout (failing to make it through flight school)
Waveoff (signal from LSO telling a pilot not to land)
Whiskey Charlie (means who cares?)
Zero-Dark-Thirty (refers to the time after midnight and before dawn)
99 (precedes a radio call describing a group of aircraft sighted)
Abaft (aft of any point in the ship—for instance, the bridge is abaft the bow)
Acey deucy (a term for backgammon)
Angles and dangles (submarine term referring to steep ascent or descent used to perform rapid turns)
Avast (meaning, “Stop what you’re doing.”)
Aweigh (term meaning that the anchor is no longer in contact with the sea bottom—the term for raising the anchor is “weigh”)
Balls or four balls (midnight)
Belay (to secure, to stop, or to disregard, depending on context)
Bilge rat (someone who works in the engineering decks)
Binnacle (the pedestal upon which the compass is mounted)
Binnacle list (the list of those who are sick or injured in sick bay)
Biologics (sounds of sea life picked up on sonar)
Bird farm (aircraft carrier)
Birds free (permission to fire missiles)
Birds tight (no permission to fire missiles)
Blue water (deep water)
Bone dome (also “hardhat” or “brain bucket”—a flight helmet)
Boomer (missile submarine)
Boondoggle (travel more for fun than function)
Boot (a rookie or new recruit)
Brown water (shallow water)
Bug juice (typical beverage aboard ships, color similar to Kool-Aid, consisting largely of ascorbic acid and used to clean and strip various parts of a ship)
Bulkhead (wall)
Bulldog (a harpoon cruise missile)
Buster (maximum speed of an aircraft attainable without afterburners)
Careen (to lay a ship on its side in shallow water, usually for maintenance on the hull)
Check valve (someone who helps themselves but not others)
Class alpha fire (a fire that leaves ashes)
Class bravo fire (a fire with flaming liquids)
Class charlie fire (an electrical fire)
Class delta fire (special situation fires, such as burning metal or possibly a deep-fat fryer on fire)
Coffee pot (a nuclear reactor, also a teakettle)
Coffin (bed, also “rack”)
Commodore (former term for a one-star admiral)
Condition 1 (general quarters: battle stations alert)
Condition 2 (a general quarters alert sometimes used on larger ships)
Condition 3 (wartime readiness condition where about half the ship’s weapons are in a ready and manned state)
Condition 4 (peacetime readiness)
Condition 5 (peacetime, in port status)
Conn (can refer to responsibility for steering and engine orders, as in “I have the conn”—also can refer to the conning tower of a submarine or any general area from which conn orders are given)
Crash and dash (touch-and-go landing)
Crash and smash crew (crash and rescue personnel)
Dead head (the resistance built into a magnetic compass that prevents it from swinging too much)
Deep six (a call meaning that water is six fathoms deep, but more commonly used to mean throwing something overboard)
Deflection (adjustment of guns to the left or right—on aircraft, this refers to the angle or lead needed to hit an opposing aircraft)
Deuce (Browning .50 caliber machine gun)
DIW (dead in the water)
Dog watch (short watch periods, generally about two hours)
ESW (electronic submarine warfare)
Fart sack (sleeping bag)
Field day (to scrub or clean the ship)
Flat top (a carrier)
Floor (a horizontal surface on a ship that does not run the whole length of the ship, as opposed to the deck, which does)
Flotsam (floating wreckage from a sunken ship)
Foul deck (flight deck that is unsafe for landing)
Ganked (stolen)
Gash (garbage or anything unwanted)
GLOC (loss of consciousness due to excessive Gs, pronounced “gee-lock”)
Grand slam (radio call for the successful destruction of an air contact)
Green water (water coming aboard from a swell or wave)
Grunt (a marine)
H and I (military mission designed to harass and interdict enemy forces and supply routes)
Hangar queen (an aircraft that never seems to be in flyable condition)
Hash marks (stripes on the sleeve of a uniform that signify years of service)
Hatch (an opening in the deck and its closure)
Head (toilet)
Heave the lead (to throw a lead weight overboard to take depth soundings)
Heave to (to turn into the wind and stop—specific to sailing ships)
Hook (anchor or the tail hook on a plane used to arrest motion on carrier landings)
Hot runner (someone who does consistently well)
Indirect fire (gunnery where the fall of a shot cannot be observed from the firing location and requires someone to report results)
Influence mine (a mine that doesn’t require physical contact to detonate—generally a magnetic or acoustic mine)
Jetsam (objects thrown over the side of a ship, generally to lighten it—jetsam does not float, whereas flotsam does)
Joe (coffee, as in “a cup of joe”)
Joker (critically low fuel state)
Judy (a radio call that indicates that a fighter has contact with an enemy [bogey or bandit] and is ready for intercept)
Knock it off (a call to stop an aerial engagement for any reason)
Knot (a measurement of speed that equals one nautical mile per hour)
Lifer (career military personnel)
Line (1. rope; 2. the Equator)
Splice the main brace (1. historically, to repair the main mast supports—a difficult job traditionally rewarded by a shot of rum; 2. Modern usage means to have a drink, presumably after a hard day’s work)
Beans and bullets (any supplies)
Blue falcon (someone who doesn’t help another soldier)
Blue-on-blue contact (an incident involving friendly fire)
Bubblehead (anyone serving on a submarine or in the submarine service)
Fruit salad (cluster of medals on a soldier’s dress uniform)
Goat rope (an activity directed by a higher authority that’s considered to be useless or futile)
Goldbrick/goldbricker (a soldier who pretends to be sick to avoid duty, a military slacker)
Grunt (basically, a foot soldier—originally thought to mean “government reject, unfit for normal training”)
Gun (artillery piece—rifles and pistols are referred to as “small arms” and “sidearms” or just called “weapons”)
Hit the silk (to bail out of a plane using a parachute)
Jet jockey (pilot)
Leatherneck (a marine, from the high leather collar used in original formal uniforms)
Lima Charlie (loud and clear)
Puddle pirate (a term for someone in the U.S. Coast Guard)
Rock (a very stupid soldier, based on “dumber than a box of rocks”)
Rock and roll (fully automatic setting on a weapon)
Scrambled eggs (decorations on an officer’s dress uniform cap)
Sparks or Sparky (someone who runs radios and electronic devices)
Spook (a spy)
Squid/swabbie (a sailor from the U.S. Navy)
Tango Mike (stands for “thank you much”)
The old man (unit commander)
Abrogation
Absolutism
Academic freedom
Accord
Accountability
Acid test
Activism
Adjudication
Adversary system
Aegis
Affidavit
Affirmative action
Agenda
Agitprop
Aide-de-camp
Alien
Allegiance
Alliance
Ambassador
Amendment
Amnesty
Anarchy
Annexation
Bill
Constituency
Czar
Filibuster
Graft
Lobby/lobbyist
Paper trail
Pork
Promise
Special interest
Stump
Take it under advisement
The First Amendment
Treaty
Under the table
Voters
Aggravated Assault. An unlawful attack with the intention to inflict physical damage, generally with a weapon capable of causing death or severe bodily harm.
Arson. Intentional or malicious setting of fire or attempt to burn any property, such as buildings, vehicles or personal property. Such an act is considered arson, whether or not there is an intent to defraud.
Bias Motivated. Defines cases in which a person’s rights according to state law or the U.S. Constitution have been infringed due to bias of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation, or simply the perception of one or more of these traits. This includes acting as an agent of the law, threatening force or causing injury, damaging or defacing personal property in order to intimidate, and so on.
Bomb, Actual. Refers to any violation of laws governing possession and use, providing to others, and manufacture of explosives and explosive devices.
Bomb, Threat. Refers to falsely reporting a bomb or explosive devise in a public or private location.
Burglary. Unlawfully entering a place with the intention of committing a felony or theft, including an attempted forcible entry.
Disturbing the Peace. Refers to public fighting or threatening to fight, loud behavior or noisemaking, ot the use of offensive language that would reasonably be expected to cause a violent response.
Driving Under the Influence. Driving or operating a vehicle while intoxicated or under the influence of narcotics.
FBI Crime Index Offenses. Also known as the Crime Index, this refers to a list of seven crimes that are used to gauge the fluctuations of criminal behavior. The crimes tracked are murder and manslaughter (other than negligent manslaughter), forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
Felony. A felony is a serious crime for which the punishment is imprisonment in a state institution or even death.
Forgery/NSF. Refers to the act of signing another person’s signature without authority. It also refers to creating false documents. NSF refers to making or offering as payment a check for which there are insufficient funds.
Infraction. Refers to a crime or other offense for which the punishment is a fine or other, nonincarceration penalty.
Larceny-Theft. Refers to the attempt or act of taking someone else’s possessions, including carrying, leading, or riding away of such property. Does not include embezzlement, fraud, forgery, or NSF.
Miscellaneous Offenses. Any violation, other than traffic violations, of state or local laws that is not otherwise listed in a crime report.
Misdemeanor. Refers to a crime that would be punishable by a fine or by imprisonment in a county jail, or both. In some cases, a felony crime can be treated as a misdemeanor.
Motor Vehicle Theft. Stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle.
Narcotics. Refers to violations of local and state laws regarding the sale, use, growing, manufacturing, and unlawful possession of narcotics.
Property Crime. Refers to any burglary from a building, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, or arson.
Public Drunkenness. Refers to violations that stem from drunkenness or other intoxication, excluding DUI (driving under the influence).
Rape. Forced, attempted forced, or threatened forced sexual acts against an individual without consent, including cases where the victim is not capable of giving consent due to mental conditions, developmental or physical disability, intoxication, or unconsciousness. Rape can also be the result of intentionally fraudulent representation or trickery.
Robbery. Refers to any instance where something is taken from the “care, custody, or control” of another person by force or by threat, or by any action that causes the victim fear.
Sex Offenses: Nonviolent. Refers to violations that do not involve rape or physical contact, such as indecent exposure, solicitation, loitering that is considered to be for the act of engaging in “lewd conduct,” and so forth.
Sex Offenses: Violent. Refers to sexually related violations other than rape, that include physical contact. These include child molestation (without rape), sexual battery, statutory rape, and so forth.
Simple Assault. Refers to weaponless attacks or attempted attacks in which no serious injury resulted.
Stolen Property. Stolen property violations refer to the buying, receiving, or possession of stolen property, or any attempt to do so.
Trespass. Refers to unlawful acts on public or private property, such as being present without permission or refusal to leave when asked to do so.
Uniform Crime Reports/UCR. Reports gathered from law enforcement agencies around the country and provided via a federal reporting system.
Vandalism. Refers to damage caused to public or private real or personal property as a result of willful or malicious acts and without the permission of the owners or custodians of the property.
Vehicle Code-All Other. Refers to any violation of the vehicle code, excluding driving under the influence or hit and run.
Vehicle Code-Hit and Run. Refers to a driver’s failure to stop at the scene of an accident in which they were involved, and to notify the property owner and the police.
Violent Crime. Refers to crimes such as willful homicide, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
Weapons. Refers to any violation or attempted violation of laws governing the carrying, using, possession, furnishing by sale or gift, and manufacturing deadly weapons.
Willful Homicide. Refers to the act of intentionally killing another human being, which includes manslaughter (non-negligent) and murder.
Cavers, rock climbers, and tree climbers all have adopted their own sets of expressions. With the increased popularity of extreme sports, especially rock climbing, these terms can come in handy.
Air rappel (an accidental fall down a pit)
Australian descent (tree climber’s term for rappelling upside down)
Baby hog (a not-so-long coil of rope to be carried through a cave)
Bang (explosives)
Biner (carabiner, a locking device used to secure ropes and other equipment)
Birth canal (narrow passage)
Bomb-proof (1. suitable natural rig point; 2. very secure, unlikely to move when subjected to great force)
Bottomed or bottomed out (reaching the lowest point of a vertical cave)
Brain bucket (helmet)
Carbide pig/piglet (a piece of knotted car inner-tube used for carrying carbide in caves)
Cell (1. any electric light; 2. a battery pack)
Chest compressor (a crawl that cannot be negotiated by a caver without exhaling)
Cratering (falling off a climb to the ground)
Death march (a very grueling caving trip)
Dufus (an inept caver)
Ear dip (a low, wet passage that causes one’s ear to get wet while crawling through)
Enduro-caver (a caver who goes on frequent death marches or grunt trips)
Entrance fever (when a caver is anxious to get out of a cave)
Flat rock (knocking someone unconscious with a rock, usually by causing rocks to fall on him when he is below you)
Gnar or knar (a gnarly, narrow passage that has popcorn and/or other features that catch on packs or clothing)
Goosh (boiled, condensed milk)
Gorp (granola, oats, raisins, and peanuts, commonly known as “good old raisins and peanuts,” a popular caver food)
Grots (any well-used caving clothing)
Grunt (a rugged, challenging caving trip)
Hardware (carabiners, pitons, ascenders, or any of the metallic paraphernalia used in vertical caving)
Headache (climber’s call when something is falling from above)
Hog (a long coil of rope to be carried through a cave)
Hydrothermia (hypothermia from cold water)
Jack (to decide not to start a trip or not to continue a trip)
Janglies (assorted SRT hardware)
Krab (carabiner)
Minion (anyone conned into being a model or holding a flashgun on a photographic trip)
Mundane (a non-caver)
Nerd gate (an obstacle that prevents most climbers from accessing the rest of the cave)
Pig (anything that is tough to carry through a difficult cave)
Pitch (a section of a rock face that differs in angle from the sections above and below it)
Pot-holing (exploring predominantly vertical caves)
Rock solvent (explosives)
Rout (exit the cave)
Safety loop (a length of rope connecting the top ascender to the sit harness)
Scoop (1. to discover an unexplored cave; 2. to explore a cave someone told you about before they were able to explore it)
Sherpa/sherp (carrying a load through a cave for someone else, sometimes as a supply run for a cave group that comes later)
Short-roped (when a pitch is rigged with a rope that’s too short)
Speleobopper (1. flashlight caver; 2. teenager in a cave; 3. someone who only participates in spot caving)
Spelunk (the sound a caver makes when he hits the bottom of a pit)
Spelunker (someone who explores caves, generally as a hobby)
Sporting (1. an extremely wet cave trip; 2. gym climbing or climbs that emphasizes short, difficult climbs with bolted protection)
Squeeze (a really tight spot)
SRT (1. single-rope technique (tree climbing); 2. solid rubber trussing)
Stink (carbide)
Stinkies (carbide lamps)
Stout (a caver with exceptional strength and endurance)
Suckin’ spiders (trying to breathe where there’s not much air)
Tight spot (a squeeze)
Winker (a fray in a caving rope when a core is exposed)
What people say and the words they use are only part of the message they are delivering. How they say it is also very important. Many factors go into the way people speak, including:
Volume.
Tone of voice, including:
Pitch
Timbre
Breathiness
Speed of delivery.
Rhythm.
Musicality.
Specific word choices and constructions based on local dialects and technical trade terminology. These are also often based on what in neuro-linguistic programming are called representational systems. People who are not speaking in their native tongue may also construct sentences in unfamiliar ways, perhaps echoing the constructions of their native language.
And, along with all these subtleties are the nonverbal messages.
Clearly, the volume of someone’s speech can indicate something about him. Some people naturally speak loudly, and others speak very quietly. A bombastic fellow might be very loud most of the time, even when he’s whispering conspiratorially, while a bookish cleric might speak very quietly.
Volume can also indicate the level of passion, excitement, or anger in a character. People often raise their voices when angry or when they are particularly fired up about something.
Tone of voice is a complex aspect of communication that involves pitch and timbre, among other qualities. A person’s tone can indicate a wide variety of emotional content, including sweetness, harmoniousness, aggression, sarcasm, manipulation, questions, dominance, submissiveness, compassion, disdain, and so on. Everyone intuitively understands this on some level, though describing it in print is difficult. However, when creating characters in games, a great deal of information can be presented through tone of voice, and you can use a character’s tone to stimulate emotional responses in the player.
For instance, a low-pitched voice can be sinister, soothing, threatening, or even commanding, depending on other qualities. A high-pitched voice can be nonthreatening (as is usually the case in greeting someone new, courting a love interest, or talking to children), or it can be an indication of excitement and even anger. Again, other specific qualities help determine which meaning to give a specific voice, and other factors must be taken into account, including loudness, breathiness, harshness, speed of delivery, rhythm, and more.
Some people naturally speak quickly, while others may speak much more slowly. This can be cultural. For instance, Cubans speak Spanish faster than people from Spain or many other Spanish-speaking countries. People from New York speak faster overall than people from the South or from Hawaii. A person’s natural speaking speed can be due to other factors, too, including how those people process information. However, in addition to people’s natural tendencies, people do speak faster when they are excited or emotionally charged. They may tend to speak more slowly when confused or unsure. However, there are no absolutes. Some people run off at the mouth when nervous. Others stammer and have a hard time getting anything to come out.
A person’s overall speaking speed is only one part of the story. People also tend to have natural rhythms, which can change based on emotional states. Some people speak very smoothly, their words flowing with a definite meter, as in poetry. Others speak in choppy segments, with uneven gaps in their words, perhaps speaking very quickly and then stopping abruptly and speaking quickly again after a short pause. Some people’s statements tend either to accelerate or to decelerate as they speak. They may trail off or even end abruptly without completing a thought, following with a whole new thought that may or may not be completed.
I made up this category to describe the quality of speaking that includes rhythm, tone, speed, and other factors to achieve a more or less flowing quality. For instance, many religious leaders create a sort of singsong musicality to their delivery. Other people speak with a flow that can be entrancing and even hypnotic. People from different ethnic origins may have a cadence that’s unique to their language. But most people’s conversations are not particularly musical. Using the idea of a sort of internal meter to someone’s voice can distinguish him from others, though it should be subtle unless he is specifically intoning something, such as if he is a priest, rabbi, or muezzin.
The words and constructions people use in speech vary for many reasons, both personal and cultural. This section looks at some of the ways you can differentiate speakers in your games. I’ll start by listing some of the causes of individual speech patterns and then follow with some more specific ideas. People’s speech patterns may vary because:
They are foreign speakers. They aren’t speaking their native language, and everything must be translated.
They use local dialects and expressions. They are speaking in a local dialect, which has unique expressions that are especially meaningful within their local culture. (See the slang lists earlier in this chapter, for instance.)
They use trade terms. They are using words specific to their trade, profession, or technical expertise. For instance, politicians might use specific phrases that nobody else would use; likewise, plumbers, nuclear physicists, car mechanics, clergy, or thieves may do the same.
They are educated speakers. Sometimes highly educated people will speak differently than people who have had little formal education. This doesn’t mean that the content of what they say is necessarily better or smarter, but it is often expressed in different language and construction.
They are intoxicated, emotional, or stressed. People speak differently when they are intoxicated or drugged, in great pain or very frightened, or breathless or bone tired.
They speak with condescension, reverence, or inferiority. People speak differently when they feel superior (condescension), when they feel reverence, or when they feel inferior.
They speak formally versus informally. People speak differently among people they know well than they do around strangers or people they have just met. This is intensified if there is the potential or perception of danger involved. Many people are guarded around others at first. Why? What is it that they fear? Knowing what they fear to reveal can tell you something about who they are.
In addition to these ways that people’s speech may vary, there are some very specific language patterns that can further distinguish and characterize people or help determine their current emotional state. Some constructions can even help show something about how they interact with the world. The more you study these language patterns, the more you can see how a specific individual may order his life based on which patterns he tends to use.
We experience the world through our senses—for instance, by seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting. We remember our experiences most often in terms of pictures, sounds, and feelings, and we often express ourselves in words and phrases that echo the way we perceive our experiences. So some people seem to see the world most in pictures, while others seem more auditory- or feeling-based (kinesthetic). These three systems—visual, auditory, and kinesthetic—form the basis for much theory on how people think, remember, and express themselves.
Although this is a cursory introduction to the subject, in very crude terms, people can be differentiated through the kind of language they use. In conjunction with the information in Chapter 12, “Character Design,” you can, with further study and some hard work, create characters who model some of the subtleties of real people.
For instance, people who are using a predominantly visual representational system may have different posture and mannerisms, and they may use expressions such as, “I see what you mean” or, “I get the picture. I really painted myself into a corner and didn’t see the forest for the trees.”
People using a predominantly auditory system might say, “I hear you. You’re coming through loud and clear.” Or they might say, “I like the sound of that. It really resonates with me, and I’d like to hear a lot more about it.”
People who are using a predominantly kinesthetic system might say something like, “I have a gut feeling about that. It just doesn’t feel right. In fact, that whole subject gets me all churned up inside, and I just want to find a comfortable place with it all.”
There is another kind of representational system, which the NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) people call auditory digital. It is about the kind of inner talk we have with ourselves, and it tends to be very unemotional—digital in the sense of on or off, ones and zeros. This kind of language would be something like, “I don’t perceive this problem at all. I am skilled at using facts and analyzing data, and this is not computing correctly. It’s simply not logical.” Mr. Spock from Star Trek was, to some extent, this kind of speaker.
The following lists are samples (albeit incomplete) of the many words that fit into each representational system. They might give you some ideas about how to create speech for characters who uniquely represent those systems. Remember, however, that the best communication happens when people match systems. So if one person is speaking primarily in visual language and the other answers primarily in kinesthetic terms, they aren’t going to do quite as well at communicating as they would if they matched. This might also be true of characters speaking to players. If the player happens to be primarily auditory, for instance, then a character expressing in visual terms may not reach the player as well as one speaking in auditory terminology. Some of the best speech writing makes sure to include all three systems, therefore increasing the chances of connecting with everyone in the audience.
Also note that all people use all systems some of the time, but most people have one (sometimes more than one) that predominates over the others. Thus, someone who is predominantly visual may still use auditory, kinesthetic, or auditory digital expressions. If you pay attention to how people speak, however, you may discover that some people have recognizable speech patterns and tendencies toward one representational system over the others.
Appear/disappear
Attractive
Blurry
Clear
Clear cut
Eye to eye
Foresee
Imagine
In light of
Mind’s eye
Observe
Peer
Perspective
Preview
Reflect
Reveal
See
See to it
Shortsighted
Tunnel vision
Under your nose
Visualize
Vivid
All washed up
Angle
Bend
Break
Comfortable
Concrete
Feel
Get a hold of/get a handle on
Grab
Hard
Hug
Keep your shirt on
Know-how
Pain in the neck
Pressure
Push/pull
Slipped my mind
Smooth operator
Soft
Solid
Start from scratch
Stiff upper lip
Thick
Touch
Warm
Weigh
Change
Conceive
Consider
Decide
Describe in detail
Distinct
Doesn’t add up
Doesn’t compute
Experience
Factor in
Feel that
Figure it out
Get an account of
Hash it out
Insensitive
Know
Learn
Make sense of
Motivate
Pay attention to
Perceive
Process
Question
Sense
The bottom line
Think
Understand
Without a doubt
Word for word
Each of the following examples occurs commonly in normal communication. For it to be a character-identifying element, it would need to be exaggerated. The character would have to use one or more of these language patterns frequently enough for the player to identify that character with its most common patterns of speech, although that identification is likely to be unconscious.
The first five examples are known in neuro-linguistic programming terminology as distortions.
Nominalization is the tendency to turn a verb into a noun. It is very common. For instance, when someone refers to a relationship as a noun, they are nominalizing a process. There are two standard tests for nominalization. One is by asking, “Can it be put in a wheelbarrow?” Can you put a relationship in a wheelbarrow? No, because it is a process, not a thing. The other test is to say, “An ongoing _______.” If the word can fit adequately in that phrase, it is, again, a process. For instance, an ongoing relationship or an ongoing illness. At any rate, because the tendency toward nominalization is very pervasive, it isn’t as uniquely descriptive as some other language patterns, but it is something you can be aware of when writing character speech.
Mind reading is attributing some knowledge of what someone else is thinking/feeling, such as, “I know she feels terrible about this” or, “Raymond hates me.” Again, this is fairly common, but in some people can be a habit of thought and conversation.
Cause-effect statements are those that indicate something external caused an internal response, such as, “You make me mad” or “If you were nicer to me, I’d feel much better” or “You left that roller skate in the driveway and made me slip and fall.” In essence, cause-effect statements place the responsibility or blame for the speaker’s experience and response on something outside of him. In contrast, people who speak in more accountable terms might say, “When you raise your voice, I feel nervous.” Note the distinction—not, “it makes me feel nervous,” but “I feel nervous.” Again, people who tend to use cause-effect language are common, but in someone who does it a lot, it could be recognized as a trait.
Similar to cause-effect, making connections is a language pattern (really a thought pattern, as these all are) of making part of a situation or behavior equal with its whole internal meaning. For instance, “You looked away when I entered the room. You must be angry with me.” Or, “Sally knew the answer to my question. That must mean she’s very smart.” Or, “The magician helped me kill the dragon, so he must be a good magician, and I can trust him.”
Presuppositions are the assumptions people make but don’t actually state when they say something. “You can have a better life” presupposes that the person’s life is not good enough. “Why aren’t you working harder?” presupposes that they aren’t working hard enough or working as hard as they can. “You’re going to learn so much today” presupposes that they will learn something, but perhaps they won’t.
The next seven examples are known in NLP as generalizations.
Universal quantifiers are universal generalizations, such as “All politicians are lying scumbags,” or “Nobody’s perfect,” or “Everyone knows how to fix a tire.”
This somewhat technical-sounding term refers to certain kinds of words that people use in speaking: words such as “should/should not,” “can/can’t,” “want/need,” “will/will not,” and “possible/impossible.” These words say a lot about a person’s belief systems and way of dealing with the world, and even though they may seem very subtle, there’s a very distinct difference between someone who says, “I should do that,” and someone who says, “I want to do that” or someone who says “I can do that.” These words can be further categorized as opportunity words—obligation versus empowerment words.
Lost performatives are statements that eliminate the speaker from the statement. For instance, statements such as, “It’s not a good idea to go out in the rain” or “Everybody should go to church.” These statements generally express some value judgment without the person making that judgment really being identified, which makes the statement seem more like a statement of fact than of opinion. Often people who think they know best will use lost performatives, making pronouncements for other people to accept and follow.
Simple deletions involve statements that leave out information about a person, thing, or event. An example is saying, “I don’t know.” What does the person not know? Another example is “I am in pain.” What is causing the pain? Where does it hurt? There is information left out of the statement.
Comparative deletions use words such as better, best, worse, richer, poorer, smarter—all sorts of comparative terms—while deleting some significant information related to the comparison. For instance, “He’s much better off” or, “That is the best spell you can buy.”
Unspecified nouns and verbs refers to statements in which someone is referenced but not identified, such as, “They took my money.” Who took the money? Other examples include, “Nobody loves me,” “This sucks,” and so on.
It also refers to situations in which the verb of the sentence indicates some action, but there isn’t much information about the action. For instance, “Roger hurt me” doesn’t describe how Roger hurt the person or where, what he did to hurt him, or even why he hurt him. Other examples include, “If you only knew,” “I’m going shopping,” “I’ll be back,” “Make my day,” and so on.
Historically, conversations in games have been pretty lame or, at best, simplistic. Attempts have been made to create a more interactive approach that allows the player to have meaningful discourse with non-player characters. Most existing methods have been less than exciting, but research and development on intelligent systems is underway. In the meantime, here are a few of the ways people have attempted to create interactivity in conversations:
Here are some communications that can be expressed easily, some in a variety of ways, by using hand and body expressions. Some involve simple gestures, while others are closer to pantomime. Some are common to almost everyone, while others tend to be used mostly by specific groups of people, whether professional or cultural. When you read this list, I’m sure you’ll imagine the way you could express each of these communications nonverbally.
American Sign Language
Angry fist
Big greeting (arms open wide)
Boredom or frustration (hands in pockets with appropriate posture)
Boxing stance
Bring to an end (slicing a hand across the throat)
Come (curling fingers or moving hand back toward you)
Crazy (circling finger at ear)
Cutting motion
Disbelief (hands in the air with the appropriate facial expression)
D’oh!
Downcast (head down)
Drumming fingers
Earth to...
Encompassing all (arms wide)
Enumerating (counting fingers or pointing at palm)
Fingers counting down
Gang symbols
Gen X/valley girl hand signals
Loser
Whatever
Go away
Here
High-five
Huh? (cupping hand to ear)
I don’t want to see this (covering eyes)
I love you
Impatience
Italian salutes
Karate stance
Me
Mock shooting of a gun (pistol, rifle, or machinegun)
No/no way (head and/or hands)
Obscene gestures
Over here!
Peace
Pick a hand
Praying/pleading gesture
Right on/thumbs up
Shaka
Slapping thigh
Stop (holding up a hand)
Stretching motion
Tapping foot
There
Think
Thinking (scratching head)
Thumbs up/thumbs down (approval/disapproval)
Victory
Wave (various kinds)
Woot!
Yes (head)
You
SWAT teams have developed their own system of code and hand signals to handle the kinds of high-pressure situations they deal with as part of their jobs. You might find them useful, not only in dealing with games that use SWAT teams, but as inspiration for coded communications and hand gestures in other contexts.
10-4: OK (acknowledgment)
10-10: What is your location?
10-15: In position
10-16: Arrived at scene
10-17: Completed last assignment
10-18: Request for relief
10-19: Report to this station
10-97: In service
10-98: Out of service
10-99: Stop transmitting
Check the Internet for good images of these hand and body signals. One good source is at www.airsoftgent.be/dbase/hands.htm.
360-degree formation (rally)
Ammo
Around
Automatic weapon
Automobile
Column formation
Come
Cover me
Disregard
Dog
Door
Down
Enter
Female
File formation
Gas
Go
Hear/listen
Hostage
Hurry
Line formation
Male
Me
Message received
No
Number addition
Numbers indication
Pistol
Rifle
See/watch
Shotgun
Silence
Sniper
Stop
Suspect
There
Unable to understand
Wedge formation
Window
Yes
You
Whenever we design games that involve cops and robbers or military scenarios, the specific codes can be used to provide authenticity. They also serve as indicators of the kinds of situations you might encounter. Perhaps simply by reading these code lists, you can imagine new situations to add to your games.
Following are some common codes used by the military police:
10-2: Ambulance urgently needed
10-3: Motor vehicle accident
10-4: Wrecker requested
10-5: Ambulance requested
10-6: Send civilian police
10-7: Pick up prisoner
10-8: Subject in custody
10-9: Send police van
10-10: Escort/transport
10-11: In service
10-12: Out of service
10-13: Repeat last message
10-14: Your location?
10-15: Go to...
10-16: Report by landline
10-17: Return to headquarters
10-18: Assignment completed
10-19: Contact/call...
10-20: Relay to...
10-21: Time check
10-22: Fire
10-23: Disturbance
10-24: Suspicious person
10-25: Stolen/abandoned vehicle
10-26: Serious accident
10-27: Radio check
10-28: Loud and clear
10-29: Signal weak
10-30: Request assistance (non-emergency)
10-31: Request investigator
10-32: Request M.P. duty officer
10-33: Stand by
10-34: Cancel last message
10-35: Meal
10-36: Any messages?
10-38: Relief/change
10-39: Check vehicle/building
10-40: Acknowledge
10-50: Change frequency
The following sections cover some common codes used by police, sheriff, highway patrol, or other law enforcement agencies in the U.S.
Note
Note that police codes may vary between departments and are subject to change; codes are added as needed.
AC (aircraft crash)
ADW (assault with a deadly weapon)
AID (accident investigation detail)
BO (out of order)
BT (bomb threat—“Bravo Tango”)
CP (complaining party)
CPD (city/county property damaged)
CRT (information computer)
DB (dead body)
DMV (vehicle registration)
DOA (dead on arrival)
ETA (estimated time of arrival)
GOA (gone on arrival)
GTA (grand theft, auto)
HBD (has been drinking)
J (juvenile)
NCIC (National Crime Information Center)
PC (person complaining or penal code)
PR (person reporting)
QT (secrecy of location required)
UTL (unable to locate)
VIN (Vehicle Identification Number)
W (female)
Code 2: Proceed immediately without siren
Code 3: Proceed with siren and red lights
Code 4: No further assistance necessary
Code 4A: No further assistance is necessary, but suspect is not in custody
Code 5: Uniformed officers stay away
Code 6: Out of car to investigate
Code 6A: Out of car to investigate, assistance may be needed
Code 6C: Suspect is wanted and may be dangerous
Code 7: Out for lunch
Code 8: Fire alarm
Code 9: Jail break
Code 10: Request clear frequency
Code 12: False alarm
Code 13: Major disaster activation
Code 14: Resume normal operations
Code 20: Notify news media to respond
Code 30: Burglar alarm ringing
Code 33: Emergency! All units stand by
Code 99: Emergency!
Code 100: In position to intercept
187: Homicide
207: Kidnapping
207A: Kidnapping attempt
211: Armed robbery
217: Assault with intent to murder
220: Attempted rape
240: Assault
242: Battery
245: Assault with a deadly weapon
261: Rape
261A: Attempted rape
288: Lewd conduct
311 or 314: Indecent exposure
390: Drunk
390D: Drunk unconscious
415: Disturbance
415C: Disturbance, children involved
415E: Disturbance, loud music or party
415F: Disturbance, family
415G: Disturbance, gang
417: Person with a gun
459: Burglary
459A: Burglar alarm ringing
470: Forgery
480: Hit and run (felony)
481: Hit and run (misdemeanor)
484: Petty theft
484PS: Purse snatch
487: Grand theft
488: Petty theft
502: Drunk driving
503: Auto theft
504: Tampering with a vehicle
505: Reckless driving
507: Public nuisance
586: Illegal parking
586E: Vehicle blocking driveway
594: Malicious mischief
595: Runaway car
647: Lewd conduct
901: Ambulance call/accident, injuries unknown
901H: Ambulance call: dead body
901K: Ambulance has been dispatched
901L: Ambulance call: narcotics overdose
901N: Ambulance requested
901S: Ambulance call: shooting
901T: Ambulance call: traffic accident
901Y: Request ambulance if needed
902: Accident
902H: En route to hospital
902M: Medical aid requested
902T: Traffic accident: non-injury
903: Aircraft crash
903L: Low-flying aircraft
904A: Fire alarm
904B: Brush fire or boat fire
904C: Car fire
904F: Forest fire
904G: Grass fire
904I: Illegal burning
904S: Structure fire
905B: Animal bite
905N: Noisy animal
905S: Stray animal
905V: Vicious animal
906K: Rescue dispatched
906N: Rescue requested
907: Minor disturbance
907A: Loud radio or TV
907B: Ball game in street
907K: Paramedics dispatched
907N: Paramedics requested
907Y: Are paramedics needed?
908: Begging
909: Traffic congestion
909B: Road blockade
909F: Flares needed
909T: Traffic hazard
910: Can you handle?
911: Advise party
911B: Contact informant/contact officer
912: Are we clear?
913: You are clear
914: Request detectives
914A: Attempted suicide
914C: Request coroner
914D: Request doctor
914F: Request fire department
914H: Heart attack
914N: Concerned party notified
914S: Suicide
915: Dumping rubbish
916: Holding suspect
917A: Abandoned vehicle
917P: Hold vehicle for fingerprints
918A: Escaped mental patient
918V: Violent mental patient
919: Keep the peace
920: Missing adult
920A: Found adult/missing adult
920C: Missing child
920F: Found child
920J: Missing juvenile
921: Prowler
921P: Peeping Tom
922: Illegal peddling
924: Station detail
925: Suspicious person
926: Request tow truck
926A: Tow truck dispatched
927: Investigate unknown trouble
927A: Person pulled from telephone
927D: Investigate possible dead body
928: Found property
929: Investigate person down
930: See man regarding a complaint
931: See woman regarding a complaint
932: Woman or child abuse or open door
933: Open window
949: Gasoline spill
950: Burning permit
951: Request fire investigator
952: Report conditions
953: Check smoke report
954: Arrived at scene
955: Fire under control
956: Available for assignment
957: Fire under control
960X: Car stop, dangerous suspects
961: Take a report or car stop
962: Subject is armed and dangerous
966: Sniper
967: Outlaw motorcyclists
975: Can your suspect hear your radio?
981: Frequency is clear or need radiological
982: Bomb threat or are we being received?
983: Explosion
995: Labor trouble
996: Explosion
996A: Unexploded bomb
998: Officer involved in shooting
999: Officer needs help: urgent!
10-1: Poor reception
10-2: Good reception
10-3: Stop transmitting, change channels
10-4: Message received, affirmative, okay
10-5: Relay this information to ______
10-6: Busy
10-7: Out of service
10-8: In service
10-9: Please repeat your message
10-10: Fight in progress, out of service, negative, transmission completed, welfare check
10-11: Animal problem, talking too fast, en route
10-12: Stand by, visitors present, disregard, call in reports, at scene, check revocation
10-13: Advise weather/road conditions, civilians present and listening, call-in resume
10-14: Suspicious person or prowler, convoy or escort
10-15: Civil disturbance, prisoner/suspect in custody
10-16: Domestic disturbance, make pickup at ______
10-17: Meet complainant, pick up papers at _______, urgent business
10-18: Urgent, complete assignment ASAP, drunk, anything for us?
10-19: Return to station
10-20: Specify location/my location is ______
10-21: Please telephone _______
10-22: Disregard, report to _____, send blood technician
10-23: Arrived at location/on scene, stand by on this frequency, status check, en route to call, sex offense
10-24: Assignment completed, trouble at station, unit not available, direct traffic
10-25: Report to ______, please contact ______, come in for traffic, officer needs help, do you have contact with person?
10-26: Detaining suspect (implying “please expedite”), check auto registration, ETA, disregard last info, phone residence
10-27: Driver’s license request, vehicle registration request, I am moving to channel ______, any answer
10-28: Vehicle registration request, driver’s license request, identify your station, missing person
10-29: Arrests/warrants request, time is up for contact
10-30: Unauthorized use of radio, danger/caution, special check at ______, juvenile
10-31: Crime in progress, domestic disturbance, check for local warrants, suspicious person
10-32: Person with gun, fight in progress, radio check, check NCIC, DWI test
10-33: Emergency, all units stand by, officer needs help, disturbance at ______, fire
10-34: Riot, frequency open (cancels 10-33), help needed, trouble at jail, correct time, meet officer
10-35: Major crime alert, confidential information, suspicious person
10-36: Correct time of day?
10-37: Suspicious vehicle, identify yourself, wrecker needed at ______, shoplifter, time of day?
10-38: Stopping suspicious vehicle, ambulance needed, station report satisfactory, phone communications, vandalism
10-39: Run with lights and siren, your message was delivered, false alarm, premises were occupied, contact officer, disturbance
10-40: Run silent (no lights and siren), false alarm, no activity, premises appear secure, please tune to channel ______, expedite, advise if available, suspicious person, dead animal, mental patient, lunch
10-41: Begin duty, radio test, intoxicated person, debris in street, neighbor trouble
10-42: End duty, traffic accident at ______, malicious mischief, request dispatch times
10-43: Information, traffic jam at ______, request criminal history, pick up passenger, armed robbery, rescue call
10-44: Permission to leave patrol, I have a message for you, transmission received, rape, traffic accident (no injury)
10-45: Animal carcass, pick up officer, fueling vehicle, all units in range please report, coffee break, traffic accident (injury)
10-46: Motorist assist, lunch break, fuel break, wrecker
10-47: Emergency road repair, call home, missing person, drunk driver, blood run
10-48: Traffic control, request criminal history, runaway juvenile, use caution
10-49: Traffic light out, en route to assignment, bathroom break, any traffic, serving warrant
10-50: Accident, no messages, break channel, auto accident with property damage
10-51: Wrecker needed, auto accident with injuries, phone message
10-52: Ambulance needed, fatal auto accident, message for assignment, alarm
10-53: Road blocked, silent alarm
10-54: Animals on highway, silent pursuit, car stop
10-55: Intoxicated driver or DWI, security check, ambulance call
10-56: Intoxicated pedestrian, warrant indicated, arrived at scene
10-57: Hit-and-run accident, narcotics, officer at pistol range
10-58: Direct traffic, wrecker, DOA, teleprinter message
10-59: Escort or convoy, out of car checking violation, ambulance, bomb threat
10-60: Squad in vicinity, traffic stop, coffee break, assist motorist, what is next message number?
10-61: Personnel in vicinity, stand by for CW traffic, clear of traffic stop, weather conditions?, lunch break
10-62: Reply to message, unable to copy—use phone, check for rising water, logged on/off
10-63: Prepare to copy, make written copy, net directed to ___, need barricades
10-64: Local message, message for delivery, net clear—resume normal traffic, field investigator
10-65: Net message assignment, kidnapping
10-66: Net message cancellation, bathroom break
10-67: Clear for net message, prepare to copy, person calling for help, all units comply
10-68: Dispatch message, repeat dispatch, switch channels
10-69: Sniper, message received, any calls holding for me?
10-70: Fire alarm, fire, fire follow-up, prowler, net message, chemical spill
10-71: Advise nature of fire, gun involved, proceed with transmission, officer needs assistance, fire inspector
10-72: Fire progress report, shooting, check safety of officer, follow-up rescue, radar assignment, street blocked
10-73: Smoke report, advise current status, speed trap at ______, notify coroner, arson investigation
10-74: Negative, tactical plan
10-75: In contact with ______, you are causing interference, drunk driver, miscellaneous out code
10-76: En route, traffic accident, send SWAT team
10-77: ETA _____, negative contact, accident with injury
10-78: Need assistance, major accident with injury, request wrecker
10-79: Notify coroner, bomb threat, hit and run
10-80: Pursuit in progress, bomb has exploded, tower lights out, on assignment, demonstration
10-81: Breathalyzer request, stop for interrogation, reserve hotel room, officer _____ will be at your station, at vehicle maintenance, civil disturbance/riot
10-82: Reserve lodging, stop for interrogation/arrest, traffic signal out, cover assistance
10-83: Work/school crossing detail, call station, units stop transmitting, at radio shop, officer in trouble
10-84: Advise ETA, checking officer status, my telephone number is ______, follow-up, broken utility main
10-85: Arrival delay due to ______, prepare to copy info, my address is ______, loose livestock
10-86: Officer on duty, utility line down
10-87: Pickup or prisoner transfer, pick up payroll check, dead body
10-88: Advise telephone, station call, special assignment, true alarm
10-89: Bomb threat, send radio repair, officer at academy
10-90: Bank alarm, radio repair to be at station, officer at headquarters, false alarm
10-91: Pick up prisoner/suspect, talk closer to the mic, prepare your inspection, vehicle fuel, bank holdup alarm
10-92: Parking violation, your signal is weak, officer at court
10-93: Blockage, please check my frequency
10-94: Drag racing, give me a long count
10-95: Prisoner/suspect in custody, transmit dead carrier for five seconds
10-96: Detain prisoner/suspect, psych patient
10-97: Test signal, arrived at scene, possible wanted person in vehicle, known offender, officer at court
10-98: Prison/jail break, criminal history indicated, officer at juvenile court, assignment complete
10-99: Warrants/stolen indicated, officer needs assistance/held hostage, mission complete, bathroom break
10-100: Bathroom break, dead body
10-200: Police needed
10-1: Unable to copy
10-2: Message received
10-4: Relay my message
10-6: Stand by
10-7: Out of service
10-8: In service
10-9: Please repeat message
10-10: Prisoner present at...
10-13: Agent needs assistance
10-15: Residence
10-16: Change frequency
10-19: Return to...
10-20: Location
10-21: Call by landline
10-22: Disregard
10-25: Respond to...
10-28: Registration check
10-30: Subscriber information
10-33: Emergency traffic
10-99: Emergency: agent needs assistance
10-100: Radio silence
AB3: Abdominal complaint/vomiting with signs of shock
AS1: Reserved for victims of gunshot wounds, cuttings, or rapes
AS3: Assault victim
BE3: Behavioral problem with a stated medical need to respond along with police
BK3: Non-traumatic back injury in patient over 40, or unable to move for unknown reason
BL3: Bleeding and unable to control
BR1: Breathing problems with signs of shock or unable to talk or turning blue
BR3: Breathing problem with no other symptoms
BU1: Burn victim with over 18% of body covered, regardless of area
BU3: Burn victim up to 18% burns on non-vital areas (i.e., legs/arms) or sunburn, etc.
CH1: Chest pains with two or more of assorted symptoms
CH3: Chest pains with only one other symptom (such as chest pains and nausea)
DI1: Person going into diabetic coma, noted behavioral change leaning to violence
DI3: Diabetic problem not yet unconscious or severely affected
DR1: Drowning with victim unconscious and difficulty or not breathing
DR3: Person not drowned but was under water and has been brought back
EL1: Severe shock by electrical device with other symptoms
EL3: Electrical shock
EY1: Same as above but object is penetrating
EY3: Foreign object in eye (mace counts here) which is non-penetrating
FA1: Fall more than 20 feet with no known traumatic injuries (if obvious or stated injuries, this becomes a trauma)
FA3: Person fell, still down, unknown status
HC1: Same as above but also unconscious
HC3: Heat or cold problems
HE3: The worst headache the patient has ever had
IN3: Inhalation incident (such as in mixing of ammonia and bleach or that sort of thing)
MN9: Man down, usually used for detox wagon
OD1: Overdose and unconscious
OD3: Overdose
SK3: Sick person meeting triage criteria for Code-3 response from ALS ambulance, usually only showing signs of shock and unable to fit any other code
ST3: Stroke
TA1: Same as above but additionally violent mechanism (if caller calls and says head-on accident or pedestrian, motorcycle, or bicycle involved, this code is used—also with a pin-in or rollover)
TA3: Injury accident
TA9: Multi-vehicle accident, fire only to check
TR1: Traumatic injury to critical area or to possibly critical area with other symptoms
TR3: Traumatic, injury to possible non-critical area
UK3: Unknown medical problem, as in “I don’t know what is wrong; someone just told me to call.”
UN1: Unconscious, not breathing, or having difficulties
UN3: Unable to rouse, but no other problems
All after. Part of the message to which I refer is all of that which follows...
All before. Part of the message to which I refer is all of that which precedes...
Authenticate. Station called is to reply to the challenge that follows.
Authentication is. Transmission authentication of this message is...
Break. I now separate the text from other parts of the message.
Correct. What you have transmitted is correct.
Correction. There is an error in this transmission. Transmission will continue with the last word correctly transmitted.
Disregard this transmission. This transmission is in error; disregard it.
Do not answer. Stations called are not to answer with a receipt for this message, or otherwise to transmit in connection with this message. When this expression is used, the transmission will end with out.
Go ahead. Transmit.
Groups. This message contains the number of five-letter code groups indicated by the numeral following.
I read back. The following is my response to your instructions to read back.
I say again. I am repeating transmission or part indicated.
I spell. I shall spell the next word phonetically.
I verify. The following message (or portion) has been verified at your request and is repeated. Used only as a reply to verify.
Message. A message that requires recording is about to be transmitted. Not used on nets primarily used for conveying messages; intended for use on tactical nets.
More to follow. Transmitting station has additional traffic for the receiving station.
Out. This is the end of my transmission to you, and no answer is required or expected.
Over. This is the end of my transmission to you, and a response is necessary.
Radio check. What is my signal strength and readability?
Read back. Repeat this transmission to me exactly as received.
Relay to. Transmit this message to all addresses or to the address designations immediately following.
Roger. Have received your last message satisfactorily, loud and clear.
Say again. Repeat all of your last transmission. Followed by identification data; means repeat [portion indicated].
Silence lifted. Resume normal transmissions. Silence can only be lifted by the station imposing it or by higher authority. When an authentication system is in force, the transmission imposing and lifting silence is to be authenticated.
Silence. Cease transmission on this net immediately. If repeated three or more times, silence will be maintained until lifted.
Speak slower. You are transmitting too fast—slow down.
This is. This transmission is from the station whose designator immediately follows.
Time. That which immediately follows is the time or date-time group of the message.
Unknown station. The identity of the station with whom I am trying to establish communications is unknown.
Verify. Verify entire message (or portion indicated) with the originator and retransmit correct version. Used only at the discretion of the addressee of the questioned message.
Wait, out. I must pause longer than a few seconds.
Wait. I must pause for a few seconds.
Wilco. Have received your last message, understand it, and will comply; to be used only by the addressee of a message. Since the meaning of roger is included in that of wilco, the two expressions are never used together.
Word after. I refer to the word of the message that follows...
Word before. I refer to the word of the message that precedes...
Words twice. Communication is difficult; transmit each phrase or code group twice. Used as an order, request, or information.
Wrong. Your transmission was incorrect. The correct version is...
The use of foreign language words and phrases is of limited usefulness. However, since some terms, such joie de vivre and coup de grace, are part of our language, they are acceptable. However, if you are using non-English-speaking characters in a game, it’s a good idea to know something of the language they speak and have an expert on hand to be sure you appropriately use their expressions. Another option is to actually have their dialogue in their native language (by hiring native speakers) and use subtitles. Although this is not so common, it was used beautifully in Jordan Mechner’s The Last Express and created a far more realistic atmosphere than would have been the case if all the characters had spoken English, or even if they had spoken with appropriate French, German, and Turkish accents.
Design Challenge
How well have games made use of speech, language patterns, slang, and specific expressions? Look at popular games and listen to the dialogue. Does it ring true? Do the actors convey an authentic character?
Write some dialogue using slang and buzzwords appropriate to the characters you plan to use in your games. If you want a challenge, write some dialogue in each type of slang or with a variety of specific groups and their buzzwords.
Listen to the dialogue in good movies and study the inflections of the actors.
Go places where people hang out and listen to how they speak. If you can, go to different areas and listen to diverse groups of people. Note what they say and how they say it. Extra credit: Watch the body language of different groups of people. There’s a lot more to what they’re communicating than just the words they use!
Look at the section on speech patterns and play with different types of speech patterns in your dialogue. For instance, if you change the cadence and musicality of the speech, how does that change the character? Or, if you use some of the NLP distortions, such as nominalization, mind reading, and so on, how can you further distinguish characters by these specific forms of communication?
Although colorful and “dirty” language is often looked down upon in polite society, the truth is that almost everyone uses these expressions. In some sectors of society they are among the most common words and are used to punctuate just about every sentence. To create realistic characters in certain types of games, it’s useful at least to know what these words are and how to use them in a sentence. This is not to say that you should or must use them, but you should consider where they are appropriate and then decide who your audience is and what kind of rating you want your game to have.
Note that it is possible to include colorful language that isn’t too off-color, but using euphemistic language can often seem inauthentic and will put people off if it is used in the wrong place. For instance, in some cultures using darn instead of damn would be completely wrong. But in some cultures it would be completely right. The trick is to know the language of the people and culture you are modeling and use it appropriately. But if you choose not to use the real language because it is too disturbing or it will destroy your game’s ratings, then by all means do not use soft euphemistic language in its place!
Speaking of euphemisms, they are used often, and the variety is staggering. Some are used quite often, while others are obscure. The nice thing about such terminology is that you can make it up. Slang and euphemistic expressions lend themselves well to experimentation and invention, so feel free to come up with your own. As long as the context is clear, most people will grok what you mean and get jiggy with it.
We have compiled some lists of euphemisms and also words that are often banned from various games and websites. However, rather than print them here, we will provide them on our associated website, davidperry.ning.com.