List of terms (RDM): Difference between revisions

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==Acronyms==
==Acronyms==


*'''AAA:''' Anti-aircraft artillery (pronounced "Triple-A"), such as a battlestar's [[Weapons in the Re-imagined Series# Point defense guns|point defense batteries]]. ([[He That Believeth In Me]]).
*'''AAA:''' Anti-aircraft artillery (pronounced "Triple-A"), such as a battlestar's [[Weapons in the Re-imagined Series# Point defense guns|point defense batteries]] ([[He That Believeth In Me]]).
*{{inlineref|AAU}}: Anti-aircraft unit. Weapons emplacement used to destroy aerial targets ([[Fragged]]).
*{{inlineref|AAU}}: Anti-aircraft unit. Weapons emplacement used to destroy aerial targets ([[Fragged]]).
*{{inlineref|ACM}}: Air combat maneuver. The positioning of a plane to acquire a firing solution on an adversary; a required skill taught to Viper pilots during flight training ([[He That Believeth In Me]]).
*{{inlineref|ACM}}: Air combat maneuver. The positioning of a plane to acquire a firing solution on an adversary; a required skill taught to Viper pilots during flight training ([[He That Believeth In Me]]).

Revision as of 19:50, 25 February 2010

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Battlestar Galactica Terminology


This is a listing of acronyms, jargon and terminology used in both the Re-imagined Series and its prequel, Caprica.

Acronyms[edit]

Military Jargon[edit]

  • 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, typically either or both a fighter and shuttle sized craft (Final Cut, Razor)
  • basic: initial skills training; can refer to basic military indoctrination, and arms and ground training (Fragged); and basic flight training (Miniseries)
  • bent bird: damaged fighter craft (Occupation)
  • bingo fuel: minimum fuel level required to safely return to base ("You Can't Go Home Again", "Scar")
  • bird farm: Colonial pilot jargon for a battlestar (Final Cut)
  • bug out: retreat, usually hastily and disordered (Valley of Darkness)
  • callsign: a nickname used as a substitute for a fleet aviator's given names in wireless communications and in conversation.
  • chatter: to fire on an enemy during a fighter engagement (Valley of Darkness); active wireless communications traffic
  • code blue: request for assistance due to potential Cylon agent sighting ("Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II)
  • command authority: the senior rank in a command, 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: informal phonetic abbreviation for Lieutenant (LT) ("Valley of Darkness", "Fragged")
  • eyeball run: likely refers to targeting or aiming missiles manually, without the use of targeting computers (Home, Part I)
  • fire team: basic fighting element used in small-unit ground tactics (Valley of Darkness)
  • five-'graph order: five paragraph operation order, the standard format taught in basic training (Fragged)
  • genny: power generator. Tyrol asked Cally to "find the genny" to power up the lights on Ragnar Anchorage (Miniseries)
  • hack: the brig
  • hard deck: the threshold in a massive gas planet's dense atmosphere below which the atmospheric density and pressure becomes too great for a Viper to be able to reach orbit again and maintain structural integrity (Maelstrom); adapted from the original definition of minimum safe altitude.
  • intra-atmos entry: a jump maneuver that places the ship within a planetary body's atmosphere, in either powered flight (Home, Part II) or free fall (Exodus, Part II)
  • jock smock: flight suit (He That Believeth In Me)
  • jump: the process of using the FTL engines to make an near-instantaneous apparent faster-than-light transport of a ship from one point in space to another
  • klick: one kilometer
  • knuckle dragger: inoffensive slang for a mechanic or deckhand
  • nugget: student pilot ("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: imaginary boundary within which a fighter can return to a landing bay within a given time (33)
  • rook: "rookie". Typically refers to those on their first tour of duty after initial training. (Miniseries)
  • shooter: slang for launch officer (Miniseries, Night 1)
  • 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: Abbreviation of tally-ho; the sighting of an enemy target, such as a craft, landmark, or position ("The Hand of God", "Scattered", "Maelstrom").
  • trap: a battlestar landing bay mechanism which arrests a landing Viper, Raptor or other small craft (Final Cut)
  • Two Alpha: designation for an extremely risky and hence voluntary mission (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I)
  • turkey: slang for a Cylon Heavy Raider (Maelstrom)
  • unrep: short for Underway Replenishment. Refueling and replenishment between ships away from dock, usually during flight. Taken from the contemporary term for the resupply of military vessels at sea while enroute. ("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"

Religious terminology[edit]

Other Colloquialisms[edit]

Battlestar Galactica Specific Terms[edit]

References[edit]

  1. The actual process is called a "jump".
  2. 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.