Terminology
Acronyms
- AAU: Anti-aircraft Unit, a weapon emplacement used to destroy aerial units
- BSG: Battlestar Group
- CAG: Commander Air Group, i.e. the senior pilot
- CAP: Combat Air Patrol
- CBDR: Constant Bearing, Decreasing Range, i.e. a collision course
- CF: Colonial Fleet
- CFR: Colonial Fleet Reserve
- CIC: Combat Information Center
- CMC: Colonial Marine Corps
- CMCR: Colonial Marine Corps Reserve
- CMO: Chief Medical Officer
- CNP: Command Navigation Program. Central computer program used on Colonial Fleet vessels
- CO: Commanding Officer
- DC: Damage Control
- DRADIS: "Direction, Range, and Disposition". Colonial equivalent of radar.
- ECO: Electronic Countermeasures Officer
- EMI: Electro-Magnetic Interference; high-energy electromagnetic radiation from binary stars is known to interfere with DRADIS
- EMP: Electro-Magnetic Pulse; typically accompanies a nuclear explosion
- FTL: Faster Than Light
- IFF: Identification Friend Foe
- KIA: Killed in Action
- LSO: Landing Signal Officer
- OOD: Officer of the Deck
- RFN: Right Frakking Now
- SAR: Search and Rescue
- SU: Solar Unit. Distance measurement similar to "astronomical unit"
- XO: Executive Officer
Military Jargon
- Actual: the commanding officer. Used in wireless transmissions
- ball: visual indicator used in a battlestar's Instrument Landing System
- bandit: confirmed hostile contact. Usually in reference to fighter and shuttle sized craft
- bingo fuel: having no fuel left or just enough fuel to return to the mothership
- bird farm: Colonial pilot jargon for a battlestar
- code blue: an internal security term used by an officer requesting assistance, after said officer identifies a possible hostile agent
- command authority: the senior person/persons in command of a military unit, such as an Admiral
- conn: literally the navigation controls, but also used to refer to command in general
- "dress and cover": military term for personnel to form an ordered rank-and-file formation during ceremonies. Derived from "dress right" and "cover down"
- ell-tee: phonetic pronunciation of "Lt.", i.e. Lieutenant. Used as a nickname by junior personnel, but still retaining military protocol and respect.
- fire team: a small unit of military personnel, typically Marines or soldiers
- five-'graph order: five paragraph operation order. A basic command tool taught to officer candidates
- genny: power generator.
- hack: the brig
- klick: one kilometer
- knuckle dragger: inoffensive slang for a mechanic
- nugget: a pilot in training
- Mark One Eyeball: the unaided eye
- no joy: no success in establishing visual contact with the target. Opposite of "tally". Can also mean no success in general
- press: directive to continue the attack
- recovery line: the point at which it becomes unlikely that a fighter will be able to safely return to base
- rook: "rookie"
- Sierra Alpha: "suspicious activity"
- sitrep: "situation report"
- skids up: "take off" or "launch". Often used by the CAG to end a mission briefing.
- skosh (ammo): radio code meaning "out of ammunition", analagous to modern-day NATO brevity code "winchester". Skosh is also a real NATO brevity term meaning "Aircraft is out of or unable to employ active radar missiles"
- sparrow: slang for a Cylon Raider
- spinner: engineering component of a battlestar's FTL drive
- swallow: decoy drone deployed by Raptors
- snipe: engineer
- spooch: Contraction of "screwed the pooch," describing a serious pilot error
- tally: the sighting of a target, non-friendly craft, landmark, or enemy position
- trap: mechanism in a battlestar's landing bay which arrests the forward motion of either a Viper, Raptor or other small craft
- Two Alpha: designation for an extremely risky and voluntary mission
- turkey: slang for a Cylon Heavy Raider
- unrep: short for Underway Replenishment. In today's navies, the act of resupplying military vessels at sea, usually from dedicated ships while in motion
- weapons free: weapon control order indicating weapons systems may be fired at any target not positively recognized as friendly
- weapons hot: weapons status indicating that safeties are off and weapons systems are armed
- wilco: "will comply"
Other
- bullet-head: slang for a Cylon Centurion
- clanker: slang for a Cylon Centurion
- chrome job: slang for a Cylon Centurion
- frak: Colonial version of "fuck"
- freight monkey: term for crewmen on Colonial freighters
- hard six: taking large risks; literally, rolling 2 threes with a pair of dice
- Heavy: used to signify a civilian transport vessel over a certain gross weight/mass, i.e. Colonial Heavy 798
- skin job: derogatory term for humanoid Cylons. Homage to the movie Blade Runner
- stump: derogatory term for a prisoner in a labor camp
- toaster: derogatory term for Cylons in general
- toaster shopping: searching and destroying Cylons
Fringe slang
- shiny: any valuable goods that can be acquired and carried off by the Fringe Folk.
- starwhack: ambush
Battlestar Specific Terms
- ambrosia: a type of alcoholic beverage
- carom: term used in conjunction with a Dradis Contact read; analogous to the term "mark"
- chamalla: hallucinogenic plant used in religious ceremonies and medical treatments
- cubit: unit of currency
- Dradis: Colonial equivalent of radar. Technically an acronym for "Direction, Range, and Disposition"
- fumarella leaf: tobacco or a type of tobacco
- G-4: a type of explosive similar to modern C-4
- JP: a unit of measure for liquid, approximately 1 pint
- krypter: Colonial version of "mayday"
- morpha: Colonial equivalent of morphine
- Pyramid: popular Colonial ball game
- Red Line: a point in space behind which an accumulative error creeps into FTL jump calculations
- stims: stimulants or a type of stimulants
- Triad: card game similar to Poker
- tylium: mineral that can be refined to a powerful fuel
- wireless: Colonial equivalent of radio
- televid: Colonial equivalent of television
Cylon Terms
First Thought\\Giver of Will: Raider or Centurion definition of God.
page revision: 7, last edited: 19 May 2009 19:27