CB Jargon - The Unofficial Guide to CB Lingo
All the good numbers – Best wishes
Back door – Last vehicle in a group in communications with each other
Back’em down – Slow down to the legal speed limit
Bear – A minion of the law
Bear cave – Police station or barracks
Bear bite – Traffic ticket
Bear in the air – Police patrolling in helicopters
Beat the bushes – The lead vehicle looks for Smokey to relay his “twenty”
Beaver – Female
Bone box – Ambulance
Bounce around – Return trip
Breaker – Someone who wants to interrupt a conversation
Bushel – One bushel equals ½ ton; 20 tons is a 40 bushel load
Camera – Radar unit
Catch ya on the flip flop/side – Talk to you on the return trip
Chase’ em up – The chase car of a 2 car radar set-up
Chicken coop – Roadside truck weighing station, despised by truckers
Clean – No police in the immediate area
Clear – Off the channel; final transmission
Comeback – Return call
C’mon, come on back – Invitation to reply
Copy – Do you understand?
County-Mounty – Local sheriff or deputy
Definitely – Emphatically
Don’t feed the bears – Try not to pick up any tickets
Double nickel – 55 mile per hour speed limit
Drop the hammer – Accelerate
Down and gone – Stopped transmitting or moving to another channel
Dirty side – Eastern seaboard
Ears on – CB radio turned on
Eatem’ up – Restaurant
18 wheeler – Commonly known as a “semi” or 18 wheeled tractor/trailer
Eyeball – Visual contact
Flip-flop, flipper – Return trip
Foot warmer – Linear amplifier
Four – 10-4, abbreviated; OK?
Four-Ten – Emphatic 10-4
Four wheeler - Passenger car or truck with four wheels
Front door – Lead vehicle in a group in communication with each other
Good buddy – 100% Universal reference to someone else with a CB
Green stamp – Fines or toll road
Hammer down – Cruising above the speed limit
Handle – On the air nicknames used by CB person
Harvey Wall-banger – Reckless driver
Heater – Illegal linear amplifier used to gain extra range (see also linear)
Hole in the wall – Tunnel
How ‘bout it? – Asking for a response
Kenosha Cadillac – Any product of American Motors
Linear – Same as heater
Land line – Telephone
Load of Postholes – Empty truck
Legalizin’ – Keeping within speed limit (opposite of streakin’)
Local Yokel – City or town police officer
Lots of good numbers – Have a good trip
Makin’ the trip – Getting the signal out
Mercy! – Wow
Mix master – Cloverleaf intersection
Modulating – Talking
Negatory, negative – No
On the move – In motion
On the side – Standing by on the channel; listening on the channel
Over the shoulder – Behind you
Pedal on the medal – Flat out; cruising in excess of 55 mph (see Hammer down)
Plain wrapper – Unmarked police car of (fill in) color
Picture taker – Policeman with radar
Pick’em up – Pickup truck
Portable barnyard – Semi hauling livestock
Portable parkin’ lot – New car carrier
Pounds – S-unit-9S-units on the meter is 9 pounds etc.
Radar Alley – Ohio turnpike 3
Rake the leaves – Same as “backdoor”
Reefer – Refrigerated truck
Rest’em up – Rest stop
Rig – CB radio or vehicle
Rockin’ chair – Vehicles between the front and back door
Roller skate – Small car
Runnin’ barefoot – Legal CB operation
Sandbox – Dump truck carrying dirt or stones
Southbounder – Anyone traveling south
Seven thirds or 73’rds – Best regards
Shake the trees – Same as “front door” & “beat the bushes”
Short-short – A short time
Stepped on – Overpowered by a stronger transmission
Smokey bear – State police
Spies in the sky & hounds on the ground – Aircraft working with pursuit cars
Streakin’ – Speadin’
33 – 10-33 (emergency)
Three’s or 3’s – Best regards
3’s and 8’s – Lots of best regards
Tijuana Taxi – Full dressed (marked) police car, 2 wheeler motorcycle
Twenty – 10-20, location; what is your location?
Uncle Charlie – FCC monitoring team
Walked on – Same as “stepped on”
Wall-to-wall – Full scale on the S-meter
Wall-to-wall bears – A lot of police
Watergate city – Washington, D.C.
We gone – Stopped transmitting or leaving the road
Wrapper – Color of police car
X-ray machine – Radar
XYL – Ex young lady, usually a wife
