Boomlands Lingo

Post-nuke America has developed its own lingo that’s spread across what’s left of the world through CB and HAM radio chatter, Captain Fallout’s radio station, and face-to-face meetings at diners and on the roads. Some common Boomlands terminology and slang is provided below.

• At Your Back Door: Behind you.
• Back It Down: Reduce your speed.
• The Base: The territory held by the Red River Valley Federal Protectorate, a heavily guarded territory along the Texas/Oklahoma border controlled by military personnel from Fort Sill. The organization considers itself the last remaining arm of the federal government and states that its mission is to restore law, order, and democracy to the Boomlands. The borders of the base are closed and heavily-patrolled, leading to wild speculation about what goes on there.
• Bear: Before the Boom, a “Bear” was a police officer. Now it refers to the militia, private army, or police force responsible for the security of a settlement or outpost.
• Bear Bait: A distraction meant to divert the local guard’s attention away from the convoy.
• The Big Boom: The nuclear holocaust. Also called simply “The Boom.”
• Billy Big Rig: A braggart.
• Bird Dog: A convoy’s advance vehicle, responsible for scouting for trouble and, if possible, drawing it away from the main convoy. Bird Dog vehicles are built for speed.
• Boil Up: Clean up and make oneself presentable before entering a camp or dinertown.
• The Boomlands: The post-apocalyptic wasteland that consists more or less of the United States west of the Mississippi.
• Brake Check: An obstruction in the road ahead.
• Bundled Out: Loaded to capacity.
• Camp: Towns, and the sense of permanence the word evokes, are a relic of pre-Boom America. Today, people live in camps, which can be destroyed in a thousand different ways and deserted for a thousand different reasons. While “camp” usually refers to a settlement, it can also be used to describe a specific group of people, whether or not they currently have an established settlement. When used to describe such a tribe, their name often has nothing to do with the location they currently call home.
• Clean Shot: A clear road ahead.
• Convoy: A group of people traveling on behalf of their camp. The convoy is the default adventuring party structure for Diner Punks.
• Cooter: A giant armadillo that roams west Texas. 
• Dinertown: A post-apocalyptic trading outpost centered around a roadside eatery. Diners are considered sanctuaries and are governed by the Diner Code. The first and most important rule of the Diner Code is “Leave road dust on the road.” Anyone caught engaging in violence or attempting to settle a score while on diner property risks being tossed out and exiled.
• Diner Punks & Drifters: People who travel the Boomlands. A disc jockey named Dr. Gonzo regularly uses this phrase when addressing the road warriors of the wastelands. Over time listeners have established a distinction between the two: Diner Punks travel on behalf of a camp, drifters are free agents.
• Diner Scrip: Paper money issued by a dinertown in exchange for goods. Most diner scrip is only valid at the dinertown that wrote it, but scrip from some of the larger dinertowns (like Ground Zero and Mojo World) are frequently treated as legal tender throughout the Boomlands. 
• Easy Chair: The middle position in a convoy, usually held by a large cargo vehicle.
• End-Timers: Formally known as the Holy Church of Jesus Christ of End Days Saints, this splinter sect of Mormonism has been waging an ideological (and sometimes armed) war against the more traditional Mormons of Utah practically since they crawled out of the bomb shelter. The End-Times have reclaimed abandoned Mormon beliefs and practices and added an apocalyptic evangelical flair to their belief system to create for themselves a paranoid worldview seemingly born out of a science-fiction fever dream.
• Gear Jammer: A skilled driver who operates heavy cargo vehicles.
• Going Through The Woods: Leaving the main roads
• Go-Go Juice: Fuel. Sometimes just “Go Juice.”
• Goon: A grunt who specializes in physical labor and hand-to-hand combat. 
• Ground Zero: The Ground Zero Diner near Junction City, Kansas. It was the first of its kind and kicked off the Diner Age.
• Grunt: A warrior who provides muscle and firepower for the convoy. 
• Gunner: A grunt skilled at firing a weapon from a moving vehicle.
• Gun Boss: The person in charge of convoy security.
• Gunboat: A vehicle optimized for carrying multiple gunners.
• Hammer: Gas pedal.
• Having Shutter Trouble: Having difficulty staying awake.
• Hog Farmers: A convoy from a hippie commune.
• Holy Rollers: People (especially convoys) from a religious compound or community.
• Hot-Rodder: A wheelman who specializes in speed and evasion. 
• Huckster: An expert in dealing with people who serves the convoy as a diplomat, dealmaker, and fixer. 
• In My Back Pocket: Behind me, a place I’ve already passed.
• Lake Browning: The large inland sea where the Mississippi River Valley used to be. A series of earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, and other natural disasters triggered by the Boom reshaped the continent.
• Lake Mohave: The area of the Gulf of California that’s grown to cover parts of Mexico, Arizona, and southern California.
• Lot Lizard: A diner prostitute.
• The Lumberlands: The Northwestern United States.
• M20: A designated meeting place.
• Mojo World: A large, sprawling Diner in Central Texas that’s been described as a mixture of Las Vegas, Haight-Ashbury in the late 60s, The Emerald City, and Disney World.
• Motion Lotion: Gasoline.
• Mule Skinner: Nominally the leader of a convoy, usually appointed by the camp. The Mule Skinner is responsible for planning the route, keeping things on schedule, and making decisions and agreements on behalf of the community.
• New Vegas: Elvis Presley’s ambitious attempt to build a new Las Vegas (with himself as King) in the town formerly known as Elko, Nevada.
• The Nixon Show: Occasional Emergency Broadcast System addresses from Richard Nixon, who is presumably living in a bunker somewhere near the ruins of Washington D.C. These addresses range from unrealistically optimistic to completely deranged rage. In one, he talked about killing and eating Henry Kissinger.
• Nuclear Curtain: The large area of heavy fallout that shuts off contact with the eastern U.S. 
• Parts Unknown: The eastern half of the United States, most of which is cut off from the Boomlands by natural barriers and areas of heavy fallout.
• Part Your Hair: Keep a low profile.
• Plant A Flag: Place a colored ribbon, strip of cloth, or similar marker to a sign, tree, or landmark as a means of conveying information to future travelers.
• Ponyboy (or Ponygirl): A driver who specializes in making fast trips through the wasteland alone to deliver important messages or time-sensitive goods like medicine. Named for the Pony Express.
• Porkchop Express: A theoretically simple convoy run that becomes complicated because convoy members can't ignore their basic sense of justice, fairness, or human decency.
• The Promised Land: Area of the northern Midwest that suffered relatively little damage from bombs and fallout. It gets its name from the large number of religious compounds in the area.
• Rabid Bear: A cop who hasn't really processed the whole "end of the world" thing. 
• Radiation Radio Network: Captain Fallout’s name for his radio station. As it has increased in popularity, Radiation Radio has added a number of other DJs, including Neptuna (Queen of the Mermaids), Dr. Gonzo, Super Soul, and Johnny Midnight. The station now broadcasts around the clock most days, only closing down when fuel from the generators becomes scarce.
• Ratchet Jaw: Someone who talks too much.
• Red Riders: A large gang of highwaymen known for the red muscle cars that lead their convoys.
• Repo: A person who specializes in accessing, exploring, and looting unexplored buildings, towns, and complexes. 
• The Res: The area of South Dakota and several bordering states that’s been reclaimed by the Native American tribes who were formerly relegated to reservations in the area.
• Riding Shotgun: Occupying the front passenger’s seat. The person in this position is expected to serve as lookout and gunner, but does not necessarily have to use a shotgun.
• Right After Sanford & Son: Never.
• Road Crew/Roadies: Ponyboys employed by Radiation Radio to pick up messages, find new music, and generally act as Captain Fallout's eyes and ears in the Boomlands. 
• Rocky Raccoon: The Beatles White Album. 
• RRV: Common abbreviation for the organization that holds the Red River Valley Protectorate Zone, also frequently used to refer to the territory as well. The RRV has a working refinery and trades gasoline for goods and services throughout the Boomlands. Their convoys are also known for hunting down highwaymen and making repairs to roads along their regular routes, but are tight-lipped when asked about the organization or the Base.
• San Andreas Bay: The newly-formed arm of the Pacific Ocean where most of California used to be.
• Scrap Monkey: An expert mechanic, engineer, and scavenger who’s responsible for keeping a convoy’s equipment in good repair and making decisions about what salvage is worth hauling home.
• Suicide Jockey: A driver hauling explosives or other dangerous cargo. Now often used to include drivers with cargo that is extremely valuable and therefore a likely target for hijackers.
• Sweeping The Leaves: Acting as rear guard in a convoy.
• Tombstone: Thick metal plate attached to the back of a vehicle to protect against pursuer’s bullets.
• The Wall: The Canadian border. Canada wasn’t as devastated by The Boom as America, so they had time to fortify their borders while most Americans were still cowering in bomb shelters. Today it’s nearly impenetrable.
• Wheelman: A driver.
• Woody Creek Camp: A camp centered around the compound of Hunter S. Thompson, who was hosting a wild post-election celebration of the end of America when the bombs dropped. Rumors are rampant regarding which counter-culture celebrities were at the party and and now live at Woody Creek, but the compound is too heavily-armed for anyone to attempt to find out for themselves.
• The Zone: Another name for RRV territory.