“Ah, breaker 1-9, this here’s the Rubber Duck, you got a copy on me, Pig Pen, c’mon?”
I couldn’t bring myself to begin a blog post about truck lingo without going back into the musical archives to bring back this memorable line that I’ve quoted…more than once. Did you know the classic movie from 1978 was based on the 1975 song of the same name, Convoy? Now you do.
CB chatter isn’t as prevalent as it once was, but drivers benefit from having a CB in their truck and keeping it turned on. CBs are communication devices using radio waves to communicate within a relatively small radius. While some can reach up to 20 miles or more, most fall within 2-5 miles of reach and allow truck drivers to communicate with each other, alerting one another of potential hazards or risks on the road including sudden slowdowns (brake check), or the status of the weigh stations (chicken coops).
10 – 4
No doubt you’ve heard “10-4” whether you’ve been around trucks or not, but did you know there is a 10-Code for nearly every number from 1-100? You don’t need to know them all, but a couple you should be familiar with include:
10-4: Okay
10:20 or “What’s your 20?”: What’s your location?
10:27: I’m moving to channel…
Aside from a few 10-Codes, you’re much more likely to hear trucker slang or trucker lingo. It’s a different language than what you’re used to and it harkens back to the old trucker movies, like Convoy. What may have seemed silly to some is, in fact, actual truck driver lingo.
Drivers will soon become familiar with expressions such as
Back door: Behind you
Back it down: Slow down, problems ahead
Bear: State Trooper, Highway Patrol
Big truck: Refers to another transport truck
Brake check: Sudden slow down
Bull-Hauler: Livestock truck
Come-back: Let’s a driver know you need them to repeat what they said
Come-on: Acknowledges that you’ve heard the other driver and will talk
Convoy: Group of trucks traveling together
Flip-Flop: A return trip
Hammer down: Go fast
Parking lot: Car carrier
Radio check: How’s my radio working?
Shiny side up: Have a safe trip
Skateboard: Flatbed trailer
The list is nearly endless and makes for some great fun on the roads, especially for newer drivers who are just becoming familiar with the language of the highway. It doesn’t end there, though. Even some of the nation’s bigger cities have their own names that become common replacements for their wider-known monikers.
Armadillo: Amarillo, TX
Bean Town: Boston, MA
Cigar City: Tampa, FL
Cow Town: Calgary, AB, Canada
Lost Wages: Las Vegas, NV
Shaky Town: Los Angeles, CA
Steel Town: Pittsburgh, PA
On top of it all, there are regional phrases that made their way into the trucker dialect with some being very specific to individual states or even cities. Drivers who spend time in these areas will become accustomed to them and likely find themselves injecting some of it into their own CB conversations.
On that note, it’s time to head on down the road.
“Well, mercy sake’s, good buddy, we gonna back on outta here, so keep the bugs off your glass and the bears off your…tail, we’ll catch you on the flip-flop, this here’s the Rubber Duck on the side, we gone, ‘bye,’bye.”
