Spacer Jargon Course Notes {SJ}

Linguistics: Spacer Jargon

* Notes = This exam is adapted from a great archive called 'Erebus Expanse' http://www.erebusexpanse.com/menu.htm compiled and created by Gabriel (warriorpoetex@yahoo.com). I am not claiming ownership only adapting for use by the Imperial Directorate.

=====

(A)
* Action - Any ship-to-ship engagement.
(B)
* Bantha fodder - Worthless or waste. As in, "You won't be worth Bantha fodder!"
* Blast! - A curse.
* Blaster-Proof - A master spacer, someone who knows space life intimately, especially one who has been in several actions.
* Big L - The lightspeed barrier, as in, "Once we jump the Big L."
* Bolter - A space nomad
* Boarders - Anyone attacking another ship's crew in close-quarters fighting. Either the valiant lads attacking the enemy or the scum trying to take your ship.
* Booty - Anything of value seized from a prize.
* Brother - Or (Sister). A fellow pirate, or fellow privateer, captain.
(C)
* Clear Skies! - As in, "Good Flying!" or "Safe Journey!"
* Club - Ion cannon, used to bring a prize into submission.
* Company - The ship, officers, and crew, collectively, especially one set up along business lines.
* Coreward - Toward the Core Worlds.
* Cousin - Privateer term for their shipboard New Republic observer.
* Cruise - Going space raiding for an extended period.
(D)
* Deep Hunting - Lurking in deep space along trade routes with mass blocks, to pounce on anyone unlucky enough to drop out of hyperspace.
(F)
* Final Jump - To die.
* Flarging - An extremely profane curse word.
* Freeze, The - Space. Also "the Deep Freeze," deep space.
(G)
* Grease the Servos - To offer somebody a bribe.
* Grekkin' - A profane word, much like modern four-letter phrases.
* Grubber - Meaning 'fool' or 'arrogant'.
* Guns - Any weapons aboard or mounted on a ship; lasers, blasters, tractor beams, etc.
(H)
* Hands - Generic crew members, not officers.
* Haul Jets! - "Let's get out of here!"
* Hotline - Also "Homeline." Privateer term for their New Republic communications coder.
(J)
* Jabba - As in "to Jabba someone"; to trick or fool someone and leave them in a very dangerous situation.
(L)
* Lapdogs - Pirate term for privateers.
* Letter of Marque - The contract and license a privateer operates under, issued by a government to private citizens, authorizing them to prey on enemy ships.
* Long zone - A jump zone considerably removed from a planet.
(M)
* Mass block - Any realspace object more massive than a given hyperspace object, used to force a ship out of hyperspace.
* Mates - A crewmember's fellows, as in "My mates and me." Also the command officers immediately under the captain, as in First Mate.
(N)
* Nerf-Herder - Someone who herds Nerfs, a Nerf Shepard. A common insult to call someone you consider, "low-class".
(P)
* Pirate - A being who subsists by seizing commercial ships and carrying off their cargo and often crew and ship itself, for profit.
* Pirate King - Or (Queen); Leader of a fleet of ships or any very large number of pirates. Usually applied to a leader with a regal or haughty air. An equivalent leader of a smaller group is sometimes called a pirate lord/lady.
* Privateer - A private citizen under contract with a government who carries off enemy cargo, crew, and often ship, for profit.
* Prize - A targeted or captured ship.
* Prize money - The cash value of a captured ship.
(R)
* Ragpicker - Thief, low-life, scavenger.
* Raider - Generic term for pirate or privateer.
* Relatives - Also "distant relatives" or "the other side of the family." Privateer term for pirates.
* Reel - Tractor beams, used to reel prizes in.
* Rimward - Toward the frontier, the Outer Rim Territories.
(S)
* Salted - Said of spacers. Experienced, especially a spacer who has survived a few tours or actions. Originally referred to a spacer who had undergone space sickness and the usual illnesses formerly common to space crew.
* Scratch gravel! - "Get lost!"
* Seasoned - Said of spacers. Very experienced; a spacer who has been through several tours and can be trusted to operate without much supervision.
* Shareout - Dividing up the profits of a raid.
* Ship's Articles - The loose set of internal rules under which a raider operates.
* Short zone - A jump zone close to a planet, dangerous for raiders due to proximity of aid.
* Sithspit - A profane swear word.
* Space 'em - To kill, destroy, make dead.
* Spaced - Killed by being exposed to space without survival gear.
* Space Hog - A scumbag spacer, scoundrel.
* Spacer - A being who makes his or her living from working in space.
* Spiced - Said of spacers. Highly experienced, to the point of having seen it all and becoming jaded and usually eccentric.
* Surprise package - A trap, generally a well-armed ship disguised as a soft prize.
(T)
* Tender - Inexperienced, a new hand who has not yet seen a full tour.
* The Show - Term for Starfighter Combat.
* Thriller - A pirate in love with the media image of pirates.
* Tour - A series of cruises, usually until each crew member has received a set amount of money or goods, anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 credits. Between tours on pirate ships, crews change, ship's articles are amended, and votes on officers can be called.
* Transit - Moving to or from a jump zone in a system.
* Treasure - Precious cargo. Cargo highly valuable and portable.
(U)
* Uncle - Privateer term for the New Republic/Alliance as an entity.
(V)
* Vape or vap - "Vaporize,"; to kill.
(W)
* Walk the Lock - A ritual execution carried out by dumping someone out an airlock.
(Z)
* Zipyank - To steal, tear or rip from another's possession.
* Zoning - Also "lurking," "lurking the zone," or "cruising the zone." Laying in wait near a jump zone.