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List of terms (RDM)

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide

This is a listing of terms in the Re-imagined Series. For terms used in the Original Series, see List of terms (TOS).

Acronyms

Military Jargon

  • Actual: the commanding officer. Used in wireless transmissions
  • ball: visual indicator used in a battlestar's Instrument Landing System (Miniseries, "Act of Contrition", "Final Cut", "Black Market")
  • bandit: confirmed hostile contact. Usually in reference to fighter and shuttle sized craft (Final Cut)
  • bingo fuel: having no fuel left or just enough fuel to return to the mothership ("You Can't Go Home Again", "Scar")
  • bird farm: Colonial pilot jargon for a battlestar (Final Cut)
  • code blue: an internal security term used by an officer requesting assistance, after said officer identifies a possible Cylon agent ("Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II)
  • command authority: the senior person/persons in command of a military unit, such as an Admiral ("Pegasus", "Precipice")
  • conn: literally the navigation controls, but also used to refer to command in general (The Captain's Hand)
  • "dress and cover": military term for personnel to form an ordered rank-and-file formation during ceremonies. Derived from "dress right" and "cover down" (Pegasus)
  • ell-tee: phonetic pronunciation of "Lt.", i.e. Lieutenant. Used as a nickname by junior personnel, but still retaining military protocol and respect. ("Valley of Darkness", "Fragged")
  • fire team: a small unit of military personnel, typically Marines or soldiers (Valley of Darkness)
  • five-'graph order: five paragraph operation order. A basic command tool taught to officer candidates (Fragged)
  • genny: power generator. Tyrol asked Cally to "find the genny" to power up the lights on Ragnar Anchorage (Miniseries)
  • hack: the brig
  • klick: one kilometer
  • knuckle dragger: inoffensive slang for a mechanic
  • nugget: a pilot in training ("Act of Contrition", "Scar")
  • Mark One Eyeball: the unaided eye ("You Can't Go Home Again", "Scar")
  • no joy: no success in establishing visual contact with the target. Opposite of "tally". Can also mean no success in general ("The Hand of God", "Maelstrom")
  • Old Man: slang for Commander William Adama (33)
  • press: directive to continue the attack (Maelstrom)
  • recovery line: the point at which it becomes unlikely that a fighter will be able to safely return to base (33)
  • rook: "rookie" (Miniseries)
  • Sierra Alpha: "suspicious activity" (Scattered)
  • 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" (The Captain's Hand)
  • sparrow: slang for a Cylon Raider (Maelstrom)
  • spinner: engineering component of a battlestar's FTL drive (The Captain's Hand)
  • swallow: decoy drone deployed by Raptors (Miniseries)
  • snipe: engineer (The Captain's Hand)
  • spooch: Contraction of "screwed the pooch," describing a serious pilot error (Scar)
  • tally: the sighting of a target, non-friendly craft, landmark, or enemy position ("The Hand of God", "Scattered", "Maelstrom")
  • trap: mechanism in a battlestar's landing bay which arrests the forward motion of either a Viper, Raptor or other small craft (Final Cut)
  • Two Alpha: designation for an extremely risky and voluntary mission (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I)
  • turkey: slang for a Cylon Heavy Raider (Maelstrom)
  • unrep: short for Underway Replenishment. In today's navies, the act of resupplying military vessels at sea, usually from dedicated ships while in motion ("Water", "Maelstrom")
  • weapons free: weapon control order indicating weapons systems may be fired at any target not positively recognized as friendly (Resurrection Ship, Part I)
  • weapons hot: weapons status indicating that safeties are off and weapons systems are armed (Final Cut)
  • wilco: "will comply"

Other Colloquialisms

Battlestar Galactica Specific Terms

References

  1. Whether the Cylons have a download facility on the planet or in orbit, Seelix uses "Download City" as a figure of speech, which is confirmed by Bradley Thompson on the Official Communiques page.