Slang Terms in the World of Twilight: 2000
by Andrew Borelli
By now, your PCs walk the walk, but do they talk the talk?
Every major conflict in history bred its own unique slang, and
World War Three was no exception. Below is a list of terms
adopted by US troops as the war dragged on, along with their
respective definitions. In game terms, this sort of language is
never heard at the start of the war, then frowned upon by the top
brass as the fighting drags on. After the nukes fly, the concepts
of military discipline and morale quickly vanish from most
armies, until finally most of these terms are fully integrated
into the language of the fighting man. Even the few ranking
officers who remain freely use these terms.
Fraulein: Attractive local female; local whore. Considered
vulgar.
Babushka: Old woman; grandmother; civilian woman w/ kids.
Mr. Ivan's Neighborhood: Enemy territory.
Hittin' the Hoe: Refers to subsistence farming. By 2000, most
organized military units have large rear areas where crops are
planted and cultivated in order to survive the coming winter.
Most offensives grind to a halt if their goals have not been met
by harvest time. More than once, an entire unit has retreated
from the front, because harvest time was approaching or their
crops were threatened. While this may seem like direct
disobedience, it is absolutely paramount that a unit protect its
crops if it wishes to survive.
Recycling or Recycling the Empties: Repacking spent cartridges or
reloading empty magazines. Very common in this age of limited
ammunition, but extremely dangerous.
Hand of God: A chopper extraction. Very rare these days.
Caught in a Kalisz: Tight situation; hot spot; pinned. This term
does not appear until after October of 2000.
The Magnificent Seven: Any group of truly hardcore troops; a
tight band of soldiers. Originally in reference to the group of
seven ethnic Germans who resisted the draft in Poland and, in
effect, helped spark World War III. This is not necessarily a
complement and can be used in quite derogatory ways. ("If the
frickin' Magnificent Seven had stayed awake instead of smoking
weed all night, we never would have gotten hit!")
Shoplifters: Marauders.
Homewreckers: See Shoplifters.
Black Flags: See Shoplifters.
Shopping: Launching a raid or a major attack to obtain supplies
from the enemy.
Carjacking: Using stolen or abandoned enemy equipment,
particularly vehicles.
Borrowing the Neighbor's Car: See Carjacking.
Russian Barbecue: A city or area which nuked by the Russians.
Texas Barbecue: A city of area nuked by the US.
White Flags: Polish troops fighting against the Russians.
Red Flags: Polish troops fighting with the Russians.
Cutting the Grass: Looking for old mines; defusing a minefield,
abandoned or otherwise.
Combing the Grass: See above.
Scrap Yard or Junkyard: Old battlefield where salvage can be had.
Butcher Shop: Field hospital. This term generally doesn't appear
until after November 1997.
Dr. Strangelove: Soldier who volunteered after the war had broken
out, particularly after July 1997; any non-draftee. Also commonly
referred to as maniacs.
Pennies From Heaven: Friendly arty mission or air strike.
Devil's Rain: Enemy arty mission or air strike. Originally
referred to Russian chemical weapon commonly known as "yellow
rain." As modern muntions stores were expended, this came to
refer to the Russians' enthusiastic use of napalm.
Politically Correct: Top-brass; officers who follow orders to the
letter.
Country Boy: Local soldier or civilian who knows the territory.
Kaput: Killed or destroyed; deserter or desertion; terrible or
lousy.
Scoured: Burning an area to the ground; heavy bombing mission;
area where no one is left alive.
Mr. Clean Style: Scouring an area which has already been scoured.
Originally referred to NATO's use of nuclear weapons against
targets which had already been completely destroyed. ("It's the
only way to be sure.")
"Anyway, after it was all over we secured the village and
followed a couple of tread tracks which lead all the way twenty
klicks to the north. Ran into this ramshackle camp of black flags
- and get this, they actually had a butcher shop set up. Place
was like a nightmare, like one of those movies about the Civil
War, y'know? Buckets of blood, people walking around with bloody
stumps, everything reeks of infection. Really kaput shit.
Wasn't much of a firefight either. Caught most of the
bastards with their pants down, and we dropped the ones who were
too stupid to give up. The Major was so disgusted he ordered the
whole place scoured, Mr. Clean style.
So we roll back into town, and the locals are, like, going
crazy! Like they're hauling out some of their food stores and
celebrating. The Major ate dinner with their mayor! Everybody got
a hot meal and a couple of bottles. And the frauleins! Lemme tell
ya..."
- Anonymous Rifleman of the 116th US Mechanized Infantry,
somewhere near Nowogrod, Poland, December 2000
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