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!