This is part of a series I'm posting, giving players who are looking for something to help "get into character" when chatting with other players, writing their stories, or even just posting on the forum. I'll update this as more lists are made available:
Traders: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=115768&p=1797210
Bounty Hunters: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116133&p=1803554
Pirates and Privateers: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116134&p=1803574
Miners: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116644&p=1811584
Explorers: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116536&p=1809874
General Slang: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=61871 (This is a great list compiled by Anopheles some time back, which could be seen as a "universal" slang outside of specific occupations if you want)
-----
Space Trucking: How to Chatter with Style
Credit for credit, cargo hauling is where the money is at. It may not be as glamorous as bounty hunting or as exciting as pirating, or as... uh... well, it's not mining either. But it's straight forward and reliable.
Now I'm not here to tell you how to buy low and sell high, where to get rares, or other tricks of the trade. Those are covered plenty elsewhere. I'm here to talk to you about the most important feature on your control panel. Something you might have missed altogether: your Comms button.
You see, due to the vastness of space, some people are afraid to communicate. They don't even realize just how helpful it can actually be. If you see a Lakon 6 pilot in your system, they might know something you don't. Maybe a sector they just came from is swarming with pirates, or law enforcement is cracking down on black market trade. Maybe a good supply run has dried up or a new one has opened up. Maybe you just want to share your latest story with a friendly ear, and maybe they want to listen.
Communication is the key. Use it.
Regardless of your reasons, the surprising thing is the lingo itself hasn't actually changed much in the last thousand years. Not for truckers at any rate. We just adapted, is all. Bounty hunters, pirates, miners, explorers? They all have their own kinds of chatter, too. A lot of it new and shiny. But the truckers lingo is the oldest, so in my opinion that makes it the best.
-----
Affirmative - Yes
All locked up - The station is closed (usually an outpost).
Back door - Something behind you. "There's a dog at your back door".
Back it down - Slow down.
Backed out of it - Have to abandon station/planet approach due to high speed and inevitable overshoot. "I'm backed out of it now. Have to swing around."
Back row - The furthest rows of parking in an Orbis or other rotating station, often where the seedier side of things can be found (gambling, prostitution).
Barking Dog - a pirate who shoots you up to get you to drop your cargo
Bear - A law enforcement officer
Bear bait - Abandoned cargo but in an area with law enforcement nearby just waiting to scan you
Bear bite - Hit with a fine after being scanned
Bear den or Bear cave - Law enforcement headquarters, station.
Bear in the bushes - Law enforcement is hiding somewhere, scanning traffic.
Begging Dog - a pirate who asks you for your cargo rather than shooting first
Big rig - Refers to any dedicated cargo carrier (like the Lakon series). "Come on over, big rig".
Boogie - Maxing out acceleration
Bowman Boogie - Reached 2001c (named after Dave Bowman)
Boulevard - Popular trade routes.
Brake check - There is a lot of traffic at the station someone is heading to. "You've got a brake check ahead of you".
Breaking up - Messages aren't coming through properly
Bubba - What you might call another pilot, often in a kidding way.
Buggy - SRV
Bumper sticker - A ship that's tailgating. Also known as called a "hitchhiker". Since this might be a possible interdiction situation, this usually refers to a Sidewinder due to their lower possibility of being a threat.
Bundled out - Loaded heavy, or to maximum capacity.
Buster Brown - Someone running courier missions
Commtab or "Tab" - Handheld device for reviewing information, might be holographic ("Details on your tab, just acknowledge your ID.")
Comedian - The middle space NPCs fly through in the letterbox of big stations. "Do you fly the Comedian or take the Green?"
Come back - An invitation for the other driver to reply. Sometimes used when you think you might not have recieved their last transmission, "comeback, I didn't catch anything".
Comic book - The log book (presumably the scratch pad where you're tracking station prices and other information).
CMDR (Commander) - what human pilots call one another, can be used when a handle isn't known "There was a CMDR out in Yembo giving convoys a hard time"
Convoy - A group of trucks traveling together, with or without escort.
Copy - Transmission acknowledged, agreed with, or understood, as in "That's a copy, commander".
County Mountie - law enforcement found between stations or at USSs.
Crotch rocket - An Eagle or Viper (sometimes a Sidewinder) - smaller ships built for speed.
Deadhead - empty on cargo
Do what? - I didn't understand you.
Dog (derives from Sea Dog) - a pirate OR a bounty hunter. Fact is, to cargo haulers anyone with big guns can be bad news depending on circumstances (you might be smuggling, for example), and you can't be sure who they are until they tell you. As a result both are treated with suspicion until they make their intentions known.
Dog House - an outpost with a black market frequented by pirates and/or bounty hunters, used as their base.
Dog on a Leash (Leashed Dog) - hired guns to escort you
Dog Pack (Pack of Dogs) - group of pirates and/or bounty hunters occupying an area of space - "There's a dog pack in Yembo"
Doomsday Pack - an ungodly number of pirates/bounty hunters making a sector of space extremely unsafe for traders.
Dragonfly - A ship with no power/thrusters/fuel. Dead in space.
Eagle Knievel - A lone law enforcement officer in an Eagle.
Eyeball - To see something.
Feeding the bears - Paying off your fines.
Fingerprint - To unload a cargo ship by yourself in the station.
Flip-flop - Refers to a return trip.
Flying award - Getting dinged with a penalty just as you are entering a space station.
Forty-niner (49er or 49) - Miner
Front door - In front of you.
Full-grown Bear - Law enforcement in a Python
Garbage hauler - Taking scrap, biowaste, etc...
Gear Jammer - A pilot who speeds up and slows down with great frequency.
Go-go juice - Fuel scooping at a sun (often while staying still and shaking like crazy)
Good Dog - Bounty hunter who is out to help. Slightly joking/ribbing expression. Also called a Sheppard.
Good neighbor - Usually used when you're showing appreciation to another pilot, as in "thank you, good neighbor".
Got my nightgown on - ready to go to turn in/stop playing.
Got your ears on? - Are you listening?
Granny lane - Middle part of the Letterbox at station (since most NPCs go REALLY show through it) Also called the Comedian
Greasy side up - Ship that's planted itself against the station wall, bumping along helplessly (often NPC)
Green - the green navigation lights on the letterbox. Some pilots prefer to fly on this side instead of taking the Granny Lane.
Grossed out - Max cargo capacity for your ship
Hammer down - Go fast, step on it.
Handle - your pilot name (almost always a nickname)
Having shutter trouble - Having trouble keeping awake.
Holler - Contact me, as in "give me a holler when you get back".
Holofac - 3D image transmission system, also used for generating ship HUD ("Initiate holofac transmission")
Home 20 - A driver's home location (whichever station they currently call home).
Hoover - picking up cargo scattered on a planet
Icarus - taking hull damage flying too close to a star. "I pulled an Icarus fuel scooping."
In my back pocket - Behind you; a place you've passed.
Kojak with a Kodak - Law enforcement interdicting you to scan you
Local information - A driver asks for local information when he needs info about a system he's unfamiliar with.
Local-yokel - law enforcement at a station outpost (usually a remote one)
Lumper - Casual labor that loads or unloads your cargo at a station
Mad Dog - A pirate who is more interested in destroying you than taking your cargo. Or just a psycho killer type.
Marco - An explorer
Marco Polo - An explorer who went further than 25,000LY from Sol.
Meat wagon - A rescue ship sent to get pilots who were shot down (not seen in game, but they have to be there somewhere
)
Motion lotion - Fuel (usually indicates being fuel scooped while swinging around a sun at high speed)
Moving on - Heading towards the station.
Narrowband - Ship to ship communications, difficult to intercept ("Narrowband comms to the trader, let's explain the situation...")
Negatory - Negative or no.
Oh-Seven - Parting acknowledgement, final communication before departing. Sometimes used by space station traffic control. In text it resembles a salute: o7
Pay the water bill - Taking a rest room break.
Pit Bull - Pirate (usually refers to a hostile one)
Plenty of protection - Usually means there's plenty of police or bounty hunters in the area.
Power up - Go faster, speed up.
Preeshaydit - Thank you, I appreciate it.
Rambo - Someone who talks really tough, especially when no one else knows where they are.
Ratchet jaw - Someone who talks a lot on the radio and not letting anyone else get a chance to talk.
Reading the mail - Not talking; just listening to the chats or GalNet.
Rest area - An outpost
Rock drop - landing on a planet
Roger - Yes; affirmative.
Shiny side up - Your vehicle crashed into something, but wasn't destroyed. "Keep the shiny side up" means to have a safe trip.
Sheppard (as in German Sheppard) - a bounty hunter out to help. Much more respectful term.
Shooting you in the back - You're being scanned just as you're entering the letterbox
Stagecoach - A passenger ship
Step on it - go faster.
Supercruiser - one who brags about himself, or his big, fast, shiny ship.
Swinging Meat - Carrying slaves (Imperial or regular)
Taking pictures - Law enforcement scanning ships
Ten-Four - OK, message received. Some pilots just say "10-4", "104" or "10".
Through the woods - going through unpopulated regions to reach your destination
Too many eggs in the basket - Overweight load affecting your jump range.
Twisted Metal - space debris from a wrecked ship
Wagon - Some pilots refer to their cargo ship as a wagon.
Walkabout - Someone going to explore outside the populated systems, especially if it's a really long trip.
Wall pizza - Ship that crashes into a station
Wideband - Long range system wide communications, everyone can hear you ("Open wideband comms, let's make sure everyone hears this!")
Traders: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=115768&p=1797210
Bounty Hunters: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116133&p=1803554
Pirates and Privateers: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116134&p=1803574
Miners: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116644&p=1811584
Explorers: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116536&p=1809874
General Slang: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=61871 (This is a great list compiled by Anopheles some time back, which could be seen as a "universal" slang outside of specific occupations if you want)
-----
Space Trucking: How to Chatter with Style
Credit for credit, cargo hauling is where the money is at. It may not be as glamorous as bounty hunting or as exciting as pirating, or as... uh... well, it's not mining either. But it's straight forward and reliable.
Now I'm not here to tell you how to buy low and sell high, where to get rares, or other tricks of the trade. Those are covered plenty elsewhere. I'm here to talk to you about the most important feature on your control panel. Something you might have missed altogether: your Comms button.
You see, due to the vastness of space, some people are afraid to communicate. They don't even realize just how helpful it can actually be. If you see a Lakon 6 pilot in your system, they might know something you don't. Maybe a sector they just came from is swarming with pirates, or law enforcement is cracking down on black market trade. Maybe a good supply run has dried up or a new one has opened up. Maybe you just want to share your latest story with a friendly ear, and maybe they want to listen.
Communication is the key. Use it.
Regardless of your reasons, the surprising thing is the lingo itself hasn't actually changed much in the last thousand years. Not for truckers at any rate. We just adapted, is all. Bounty hunters, pirates, miners, explorers? They all have their own kinds of chatter, too. A lot of it new and shiny. But the truckers lingo is the oldest, so in my opinion that makes it the best.
-----
Affirmative - Yes
All locked up - The station is closed (usually an outpost).
Back door - Something behind you. "There's a dog at your back door".
Back it down - Slow down.
Backed out of it - Have to abandon station/planet approach due to high speed and inevitable overshoot. "I'm backed out of it now. Have to swing around."
Back row - The furthest rows of parking in an Orbis or other rotating station, often where the seedier side of things can be found (gambling, prostitution).
Barking Dog - a pirate who shoots you up to get you to drop your cargo
Bear - A law enforcement officer
Bear bait - Abandoned cargo but in an area with law enforcement nearby just waiting to scan you
Bear bite - Hit with a fine after being scanned
Bear den or Bear cave - Law enforcement headquarters, station.
Bear in the bushes - Law enforcement is hiding somewhere, scanning traffic.
Begging Dog - a pirate who asks you for your cargo rather than shooting first
Big rig - Refers to any dedicated cargo carrier (like the Lakon series). "Come on over, big rig".
Boogie - Maxing out acceleration
Bowman Boogie - Reached 2001c (named after Dave Bowman)
Boulevard - Popular trade routes.
Brake check - There is a lot of traffic at the station someone is heading to. "You've got a brake check ahead of you".
Breaking up - Messages aren't coming through properly
Bubba - What you might call another pilot, often in a kidding way.
Buggy - SRV
Bumper sticker - A ship that's tailgating. Also known as called a "hitchhiker". Since this might be a possible interdiction situation, this usually refers to a Sidewinder due to their lower possibility of being a threat.
Bundled out - Loaded heavy, or to maximum capacity.
Buster Brown - Someone running courier missions
Commtab or "Tab" - Handheld device for reviewing information, might be holographic ("Details on your tab, just acknowledge your ID.")
Comedian - The middle space NPCs fly through in the letterbox of big stations. "Do you fly the Comedian or take the Green?"
Come back - An invitation for the other driver to reply. Sometimes used when you think you might not have recieved their last transmission, "comeback, I didn't catch anything".
Comic book - The log book (presumably the scratch pad where you're tracking station prices and other information).
CMDR (Commander) - what human pilots call one another, can be used when a handle isn't known "There was a CMDR out in Yembo giving convoys a hard time"
Convoy - A group of trucks traveling together, with or without escort.
Copy - Transmission acknowledged, agreed with, or understood, as in "That's a copy, commander".
County Mountie - law enforcement found between stations or at USSs.
Crotch rocket - An Eagle or Viper (sometimes a Sidewinder) - smaller ships built for speed.
Deadhead - empty on cargo
Do what? - I didn't understand you.
Dog (derives from Sea Dog) - a pirate OR a bounty hunter. Fact is, to cargo haulers anyone with big guns can be bad news depending on circumstances (you might be smuggling, for example), and you can't be sure who they are until they tell you. As a result both are treated with suspicion until they make their intentions known.
Dog House - an outpost with a black market frequented by pirates and/or bounty hunters, used as their base.
Dog on a Leash (Leashed Dog) - hired guns to escort you
Dog Pack (Pack of Dogs) - group of pirates and/or bounty hunters occupying an area of space - "There's a dog pack in Yembo"
Doomsday Pack - an ungodly number of pirates/bounty hunters making a sector of space extremely unsafe for traders.
Dragonfly - A ship with no power/thrusters/fuel. Dead in space.
Eagle Knievel - A lone law enforcement officer in an Eagle.
Eyeball - To see something.
Feeding the bears - Paying off your fines.
Fingerprint - To unload a cargo ship by yourself in the station.
Flip-flop - Refers to a return trip.
Flying award - Getting dinged with a penalty just as you are entering a space station.
Forty-niner (49er or 49) - Miner
Front door - In front of you.
Full-grown Bear - Law enforcement in a Python
Garbage hauler - Taking scrap, biowaste, etc...
Gear Jammer - A pilot who speeds up and slows down with great frequency.
Go-go juice - Fuel scooping at a sun (often while staying still and shaking like crazy)
Good Dog - Bounty hunter who is out to help. Slightly joking/ribbing expression. Also called a Sheppard.
Good neighbor - Usually used when you're showing appreciation to another pilot, as in "thank you, good neighbor".
Got my nightgown on - ready to go to turn in/stop playing.
Got your ears on? - Are you listening?
Granny lane - Middle part of the Letterbox at station (since most NPCs go REALLY show through it) Also called the Comedian
Greasy side up - Ship that's planted itself against the station wall, bumping along helplessly (often NPC)
Green - the green navigation lights on the letterbox. Some pilots prefer to fly on this side instead of taking the Granny Lane.
Grossed out - Max cargo capacity for your ship
Hammer down - Go fast, step on it.
Handle - your pilot name (almost always a nickname)
Having shutter trouble - Having trouble keeping awake.
Holler - Contact me, as in "give me a holler when you get back".
Holofac - 3D image transmission system, also used for generating ship HUD ("Initiate holofac transmission")
Home 20 - A driver's home location (whichever station they currently call home).
Hoover - picking up cargo scattered on a planet
Icarus - taking hull damage flying too close to a star. "I pulled an Icarus fuel scooping."
In my back pocket - Behind you; a place you've passed.
Kojak with a Kodak - Law enforcement interdicting you to scan you
Local information - A driver asks for local information when he needs info about a system he's unfamiliar with.
Local-yokel - law enforcement at a station outpost (usually a remote one)
Lumper - Casual labor that loads or unloads your cargo at a station
Mad Dog - A pirate who is more interested in destroying you than taking your cargo. Or just a psycho killer type.
Marco - An explorer
Marco Polo - An explorer who went further than 25,000LY from Sol.
Meat wagon - A rescue ship sent to get pilots who were shot down (not seen in game, but they have to be there somewhere
)Motion lotion - Fuel (usually indicates being fuel scooped while swinging around a sun at high speed)
Moving on - Heading towards the station.
Narrowband - Ship to ship communications, difficult to intercept ("Narrowband comms to the trader, let's explain the situation...")
Negatory - Negative or no.
Oh-Seven - Parting acknowledgement, final communication before departing. Sometimes used by space station traffic control. In text it resembles a salute: o7
Pay the water bill - Taking a rest room break.
Pit Bull - Pirate (usually refers to a hostile one)
Plenty of protection - Usually means there's plenty of police or bounty hunters in the area.
Power up - Go faster, speed up.
Preeshaydit - Thank you, I appreciate it.
Rambo - Someone who talks really tough, especially when no one else knows where they are.
Ratchet jaw - Someone who talks a lot on the radio and not letting anyone else get a chance to talk.
Reading the mail - Not talking; just listening to the chats or GalNet.
Rest area - An outpost
Rock drop - landing on a planet
Roger - Yes; affirmative.
Shiny side up - Your vehicle crashed into something, but wasn't destroyed. "Keep the shiny side up" means to have a safe trip.
Sheppard (as in German Sheppard) - a bounty hunter out to help. Much more respectful term.
Shooting you in the back - You're being scanned just as you're entering the letterbox
Stagecoach - A passenger ship
Step on it - go faster.
Supercruiser - one who brags about himself, or his big, fast, shiny ship.
Swinging Meat - Carrying slaves (Imperial or regular)
Taking pictures - Law enforcement scanning ships
Ten-Four - OK, message received. Some pilots just say "10-4", "104" or "10".
Through the woods - going through unpopulated regions to reach your destination
Too many eggs in the basket - Overweight load affecting your jump range.
Twisted Metal - space debris from a wrecked ship
Wagon - Some pilots refer to their cargo ship as a wagon.
Walkabout - Someone going to explore outside the populated systems, especially if it's a really long trip.
Wall pizza - Ship that crashes into a station
Wideband - Long range system wide communications, everyone can hear you ("Open wideband comms, let's make sure everyone hears this!")
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