Trucker Talk

    Although they're missing from many trucks today, CB radios can be rather useful when you're out on the road. Truckers try to look out for each other. If there's an accident on the roadway, bad weather rolling in, or an emergency vehicle parked on a shoulder, simply turn on your CB and in less than a minute, someone will fill you in. Something else that you come to realize, thanks to ​the CB, is that truckers have developed their own vocabulary! When I first started using a CB, I'd hear other drivers using phrases such as "go-go juice", "bear bait", and "flying donut". At first, like many new truckers, I was confused. After a few weeks however, these words and others started making sense to me. "Go-go juice" is another name for the diesel fuel that trucks run on. If a driver is speeding or driving erratically, they are known as "bear bait" and a "flying donut" is a police helicopter. 

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​    A trucker might say, "These four-wheelers should stop rubbernecking and stay out of the way of the salt shakers!" That means cars and other small passenger vehicles are holding up traffic by slowing down to look at something on the side of the road (maybe an accident) and the snowplows (salt shakers) are having difficulty navigating around them. It's an interesting aspect in the world of trucking. Phrases that would make non-truckers scratch their heads are easily exchanged and understood among us drivers. Here are just a few of these words that I've encountered so far.
    "Smokey" or "bear" is trucker slang for a police officer. If you hear someone warn of a "bear trap", that means to mind your speed, because there's a cop with a radar gun up ahead. If someone is complaining of a "turtle race" the speed limit has dropped below 45 mph. A "cash box" is a toll booth and a "suicide jockey" is a trucker hauling something dangerous like explosives. If someone warns that you're driving an "angry kangaroo", that means you should stop and fix your blown headlight. A "kiddie car" or a "winkin' blinkin' " is a school bus and a "stack of bricks" is a house. Hearing words like these tossed back and forth ​over the radio makes me smile. I smile because I know it's a community that I'm a part of. A community that'll look out for and help one another. And I smile because some of the phrases sound downright funny!

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