Truck Drivers' Language

Abstract

F YOU OVERHEAR a conversation between two or more people who talk of 'dangling in Mexican overdrive while the tattletale indicates all is well' or 'bobtailing into town,' you can be sure that you are listening to professional truck drivers. Some of the words and terms of the trucking industry have been carried over from earlier days of teamsters and steamboat men, but many have been invented by present-day drivers. The flavor of teamster and steamboat men is seen in twin screws and rig. In trucking, twin screws mean that there are two sets of rear wheels that are powered, and a rig is a truck or combination made up of a tractor, semitrailer, trailer, or other rolling equipment. Jimmie screamer, though, is a product of recent times and is used when speaking about a diesel-powered truck that emits a high whining sound. From Seattle to Boston and from San Diego to Miami, truck drivers use many words and terms that are standard for the industry, but other words and terms are in the process of being accepted or rejected. The American Trucking Associations, Inc., suggests that creeper gear is the lowest gear or combination of gears on a truck and that a truck being operated in this gear is down in the corner, but thirteen of thirty-two drivers disagree and say that grandma is the lowest gear or combination of gears and that a truck operating in the lowest gear or combination of gears is simply in grandma. This paper has been prepared from information furnished by the American Trucking Associations, Inc., Washington, D.C., and by thirty-two drivers from the following cities: Kansas City (4); San Francisco (4); San Diego (3); Denver (4); Dallas (3); Chicago (I); Minneapolis (2); Houston (i); Atlanta (2); Miami (2); New Haven (2); Wheeling (i); Johnson, Rhode Island (z); and Charleston, South Carolina (i). These are the words and terms most widely used: ARMSTRONG STARTER, n. A hand crank. BALLOON FREIGHT; FLUFF; RIDIN' LIGHT, n. Light, bulky cargo. BIBLE, n. The rule book. BODY, n. A semitrailer. BULL HAULER, n. One who hauls livestock. BUTTON HER UP, v. phr. To tie down a load. CACKLE CRATE, n. A truck hauling live poultry. COWBOY, n. A reckless driver. DOLLY, n. A retractable support for a semitrailer when it is not connected to a tractor. DROP IT ON ITS NOSE, v. phr. To drive a tractor away from a semitrailer before lowering the dolly.