
Wanna’ Talk Like A Trucker?
Today is 10/4... A great day to celebrate CB radios and the truckers that use them. Why? Because it's "10-4"! Get it? See what I did there?
A lot of people know "10-4" means okay, but what about the other "10" codes?
According to Weare CB:
- 10-1: Receiving Poorly
- 10-7: Out of Service, Leaving Air (you’re going off the air)
- 10-8: In Service, subject to call (you’re back on the air)
- 10-9: Repeat Message
- 10-10: Transmission Completed, Standing By (you’ll be listening)
- 10-20: “What’s your location?” or “My location is…”
- 10-100: Need to go to Bathroom
On top of the CB "10" codes, truck drivers (like a lot of occupations) have their own slang.
- Alligator: A piece of tire on the road, usually a recap from a blown tire, which can look like an alligator lying on the road.
- Back row: The last rows of parking in a truck stop, often a hangout for prostitutes
- Bear: A law enforcement officer at any level, but usually a State Trooper, Highway Patrol.
- Bear bait: A speeding vehicle, usually a four-wheeler, which can be used to protect the other speeding vehicles behind it.
- Bear bite: A speeding ticket.
- Bear in the air: A law enforcement aircraft which can be monitoring the traffic and speeds below.
- Bear in the bushes: Law enforcement (at any level) is hiding somewhere, probably with a radar gun aimed at traffic.
- Billy Big Rigger: Another term for “supertrucker”; one who brags about himself, or his big, fast, shiny truck.
- Black eye: A headlight out. “Driver going eastbound, you’ve got a black eye.”
- Bumper sticker: A vehicle that’s tailgating. Sometimes called a “hitchhiker.”
- Commercial company: A prostitute.
- Convoy: A group of trucks traveling together.
- Dragon wagon: A tow truck.
- Evil Knievel: A law enforcement officer on a motorcycle.
- Lot lizard: A prostitute that solicits truck-to-truck in a truck stop or rest area.
- Male buffalo: A male prostitute.
- Pay the water bill: Taking a rest room break.
- Pickle park: A rest area frequented by lot lizards (prostitutes).
- Rambo: Someone who talks really tough on the radio, especially when no one else knows where they are.
- Road pizza: Roadkill on the side of the road.
- Thermos bottle: A tanker trailer.
- Toothpicks: A load of lumber.
- Yardstick: A mile marker on the highway.
As a kid who grew up in a trucking family, I learned a lot of these as a kid. Yes, it was probably pretty inappropriate for a 9 year old Cooper to know what a "Lot Lizard" was!
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