CB radio slang

International Telecommunication Union Procedural Words

Rather than learning "CB slang" you should listen to public safety, aviation, marine and amateur radio services to learn correct radio procedures and the use of plain language, accuracy, brevity and clarity in voice communications. This link provides a good inrtroduction to proper voice communications: http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/clearinghouse/cert.html

Here are the procedural words used in real world disaster communications:

PROWORDS - Procedural words or "prowords" are words or phrases that have special meaning to expedite the flow and accuracy of voice communications. Prowords used in the heading or text of a message, are not counted in the group count and are not written into the message when it is prepared for delivery to the addressee.

PROWORD(S) EXPLANATION

AFFIRMATIVE YOU ARE CORRECT. WHAT YOU HAVE TRANSMITTED IS
CORRECT. YES.

ALL AFTER THE PORTION OF THE MESSAGE TO WHICH I REFER IS
THAT PORTION WHICH FOLLOWS- - - -

ALL BEFORE THE PORTION OF THE MESSAGE TO WHICH I REFER IS
THAT PORTION WHICH PRECEDES- - - -

AUTHENTICATE SPELL PHONETICALLY THE ORIGINATING STATION'S
AUTHENTICATION CODE WHICH APPLIES TO THIS
MESSAGE.

BREAK INDICATES THE VOICED SEPARATION OF MESSAGE TEXT
FROM OTHER PORTIONS OF THE MESSAGE.

CORRECT YOU ARE CORRECT. WHAT YOU HAVE TRANSMITTED IS
CORRECT.

CORRECTION AN ERROR HAS BEEN MADE IN THIS TRANSMISSION.
THE CORRECT VERSION IS- - - - -.

DISREGARD, OUT. THIS TRANSMISSION IS IN ERROR.
DISREGARD IT.

DO NOT ANSWER STATIONS CALLED WILL NOT ANSWER THIS CALL
OR TRANSMIT REGARDING THIS TRANSMISSION.

FROM THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS MESSAGE FOLLOWS.

GROUPS THE TEXT OF THIS MESSAGE CONTAINS (XX) GROUPS.

I AUTHENTICATE AUTHENTICATION CODE FOLLOWS

IMMEDIATE THIS MESSAGE HAS A PRECEDENCE OF IMMEDIATE

INFO THE ADDRESSEES FOLLOWING ARE ADDRESSED FOR
INFORMATION ONLY.

INITIAL(S) A GROUP OF ONE OR MORE CHARACTERS, THE FIRST
OF WHICH IS A LETTER, FOLLOWS.

I READ BACK THE FOLLOWING IS A RESPONSE TO YOUR INSTRUCTIONS
TO "READ BACK".

I SAY AGAIN I AM REPEATING THE TRANSMISSION OR PORTION
INDICATED.

I SPELL I WILL SPELL THE NEXT WORD PHONETICALLY.

I VERIFY THAT WHICH FOLLOWS IS VERIFIED PER YOUR REQUEST.

MAYDAY(repeat 3x) I AM IN SERIOUS DANGER AND
REQUIRE IMMEDIATE HELP.

MORE TO FOLLOW I HAVE MORE MESSAGES, TRAFFIC OR
INFORMATION FOR YOU.

NEGATIVE NOT RECEIVED. NO.

NO TRAFFIC I HAVE NO TRAFFIC TO SEND.

NOTHING HEARD THE STATION CALLED DID NOT RESPOND.

OUT END TRANSMISSION NO ANSWER IS REQUIRED OR
EXPECTED.

OVER END OF MY TRANSMISSION, I AM READY
TO COPY YOUR REPLY .

PAN(repeat 3x) I HAVE AN URGENT SITUATION, OR TRAFFIC

PRIORITY MESSAGE HAS PRECEDENCE OF PRIORITY"

READ BACK REPEAT THIS TRANSMISSION EXACTLY AS RECEIVED.

RELAY (TO) TRANSMIT THIS MESSAGE TO ALL ADDRESSEES
OR ADDRESSEES IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING

RELAY THROUGH RELAY THIS MESSAGE THROUGH CALLSIGN______.

ROGER I HAVE RECEIVED AND UNDERSTAND YOUR LAST
TRANSMISSION.

ROUTINE THIS MESSAGE HAS A PRECEDENCE OF "ROUTINE".

SAY AGAIN REPEAT ALL OF YOUR LAST TRANSMISSION.

SECURITE' (repeat 3x) I HAVE A NAVIGATION PROBLEM OR I AM EXPECTING A
STATE OF EMERGENCY TO DEVELOP OR I HAVE
INFORMATION REGARDING A HAZARD TO NAVIGATION.

SERVICE THIS IS A SERVICE MESSAGE AND
HAS NO GROUP COUNT.

SEND SLOWER YOUR TRANSMISSION SPEED IS TOO FAST TO COPY.
REDUCE SPEED.

THIS IS THIS TRANSMISSION IS FROM THE STATION WHOSE
CALLSIGN FOLLOWS.

THIS IS A DIRECTED NET FROM NOW UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE THIS NET IS DIRECTED.

THIS IS A FREE NET FROM NOW UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE THIS NET IS FREE.

TIME FOLLOWING IS THE TIME OR DATE/TIME/GROUP OF
THIS MESSAGE.

TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSEE(S) ARE ADDRESSED
FOR ACTION.

UNKNOWN STATION THE IDENTITY OF THE STATION IS UNKNOWN.
IDENTIFY AND SAY AGAIN.

URGENT THIS MESSAGE HAS A PRECEDENCE OF "URGENT".

VERIFY VERIFY ENTIRE MESSAGE (OR PORTION INDICATED)
WITH THE ORIGINATOR AND SEND THE CORRECT VERSION.

WAIT I MUST PAUSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.
DO NOT TRANSMIT.

WAIT OUT I MUST PAUSE FOR A PERIOD OF TIME.
CONTINUE WITH THE NET AND I CALL AGAIN LATER.
(does not require an answer).

WILCO I HAVE RECEIVED AND WILL COMPLY WITH YOUR
LAST TRANSMISSION. The meaning of "ROGER" is
included in "WILCO" and the two prowords are
never used together.
WORD AFTER THE WORD I NEED A FILL OF IS THE WORD AFTER - - - -.

WORD BEFORE THE WORD I NEED A FILL OF IS THE WORD PRECEDING ---

WORDS TWICE COMMUNICATION IS DIFFICULT. TRANSMIT EACH
GROUP OR PHRASE TWICE.

WRONG YOUR LAST TRANSMISSION WAS INCORRECT. THE
CORRECT VERSION IS- - - .

A copy of the ITU phonetic alphabet and this proword list should be kept at the radio operating position until they are committed to memory.

Reminds me of Simple Mail Transfer Protocol:

S: 220 smtp.example.com ESMTP Postfix
C: HELO relay.example.org
S: 250 Hello relay.example.org, I am glad to meet you
C: MAIL FROM:<[email protected]>
S: 250 Ok
C: RCPT TO:<[email protected]>
S: 250 Ok
C: RCPT TO:<[email protected]>
S: 250 Ok
C: DATA
S: 354 End data with <CR><LF>.<CR><LF>
C: From: "Bob Example" <[email protected]>
C: To: Alice Example <[email protected]>
C: Cc: [email protected]
C: Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:02:43 -0500
C: Subject: Test message
C:
C: Hello Alice.
C: This is a test message with 5 headers and 4 lines in the body.
C: Your friend,
C: Bob
C: .
S: 250 Ok: queued as 12345
C: QUIT
S: 221 Bye

Here, in no particular order are a few that I remember:

Police – Bears, Local Yokels, County Mounties, Local Constabulary

“Taking Pictures” – police using radar
“Bear in the air” – police helicopter
“Beaver” – female
“Buffalo” – male
“Lot Lizards” – prostitutes at truck stops
“Portable Parking Lot” - truck carrying autos
“Pregnant Rollerskate” – Volkswagon
“Super Slab” – interstate
“Malfunction Junction” – (possibly local usage) – a bad interchange
“ (insert group being insulted) Funeral Wagon” – garbage truck
10-4 – ok
10-9 – what?
10-10 – I’m listening
10-10- & Listening in – I’m monitoring the channel
10-11 – no
10-33 – emergency
10-36 – time of day
10-200 – going to bathroom
“wall to wall & tree top tall” – you have a good signal
“white line fever” – someone being hypnotized by continuous driving
“Willy The Weaver” – a driver weaving all over the road
“Suicide Jockey” – a trucker hauling dangerous cargo – i.e. dynamite
“Bobtail” – truck with no trailer
“Dead Head” – truck with no cargo
“Swindle Sheets” – a truckers required ICC logbook
“Come On” – go ahead
“QRT and on the side” – I'm listening – (note the reverse meaning of QRT, which among hams means signing off)
“Keep her between the ditches, keep the shiney side up & the dirty side down & I'll catch you on the flip flop”. – drive carefully until we meet again.

Hope that helps.

Every ham operator or person interested in Eergency Communications should have a CB or FRS radio. They are cheap & had heavy usage during Katrina.

And, this is from a fellow that has been a ham 30 years & is heavily involved in emergency communications.

CB gets a bad name for all the shenanigans one hears on Channel 19. More times than not on other channels I hear people talking about like I hear on the local repeaters here. If you are near a city,the behavior is much worse, if in a rural area, not bad at all. And during an emergency there is more emphasis on surviving the emergency than "slinging lingo" to each other.

It's said that "when all else fails there's Amateur Radio". And that's very true - except when the repeater blows down, or you are stuck on the road broken down, between repeaters, cell phone says "No Signal" and you are 15 miles between exits.

So, then adding a CB to you arsenal proves not to be a such bad idea at all.

Mark