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.

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