Streetslang

Cyberpunks live in cynical times. The influence of internationalism and the perversion of technology is all facets of everyday life have created new expressions of new ideas. Foreign words, technical jargon and general callousness are the earmarks of 2020's slang.

Common Jargon

 * 2020 Hindsight: The wise act of watching your back.
 * Alien: Derogatory Earthside term for someone who lives in space. (see Highrider)
 * Beaver or Beav: A derogatory streetslang for suburbanite form corporate-controled neighborhoods, based on the 1950s series Leave It to Beaver.
 * Bennie: An out-of-towner (see Gaijin)
 * Black Lace or Lace: A designer drug that is a more powerful version of 'Dorph.
 * Boga: (Spanish) Vogue, that which is in-fashion.
 * Booster or Boostergang: Any member of a gang that effects cyberware, leather clothing, and random violence.
 * Bourgie or Bourgy: Common, low class (adj. from bourgeoisie)
 * Braindance: Virtual reality. A new form of interactive electronic entertainment.
 * Brain Potato: A Braindance addict.
 * 'Borg: A full-body cyborg conversion. (see Metalhead)
 * Bridge & Tunnel Crowd: Commuters (see Straphangers)
 * Chilled: To be cool; to be together.
 * Chippin' In: To buy cyberware for the first time. To cast your lot with a group. To connect with a machine.
 * Chombatta (Choomba): Neo-Afro-American slang for a friend or a family member.
 * CHOOH2 ("choo"): Streetslang for alcohol, as used in vehicle power plants. (see Hydro)
 * Chop: A credchip.
 * Chopping: The process of cracking a stolen credchip.
 * Chunking: Eating on the run, eating as a secondary activity.
 * Chromer: 21st century heavy metal rock fan.
 * Chromatic Rock: A type of heavy metal characterized by heavy electronics, simple rythms, and violent lyrics.
 * Corpse: A Corporate worker, an executive, a CORPorate. Sleaziness Expert.
 * Culture-Vulture: A Media.
 * C-YA: Used as, and sounds like, "See ya," stands for "Cover Your Ass".
 * Cybered Up: To get as much cyberware implanted as possible before you go over the Edge.
 * Cylon: Corporate security officer.
 * Deckhead: A Netrunner.
 * Dirty: Derogatory term for anything low-tech; as in pencils, paper, walking, etc.
 * 'Dorph: Synthetic endorphins, a designer drug that increases healing powers, limits fatigue, and produces a "rush" similar to a second wind.
 * Dorphhead or Dorpher: A drug addict; A type of gang made up of junkies.
 * Downtime: Free time, time off the job.
 * Doughboy/girl: Someone who is wearing too much armor.
 * Draga: (Hungarian) Expensive.
 * Eddies: Phonetic pronunciation of "EDs", meaning Eurodollars.
 * Edge: The fringe of society, where many engage in illegal or semi-legal acts or life-styles.
 * Edgerunner: Someone who lives on the edge.
 * Edgezone: A strip, a gray area, an area of potential coolness; Dinford's Edgezone Hypothesis defines an Edgezone as the area between two other areas that touch.
 * Exotics: A human biosculpted with non-human elements; fur, long ears, fangs, etc.
 * The Face: The Interface. Jacking into the 'Net.
 * Faceman: A sub-Fixer in the employ of a boss-Fixer, supporting the boss' network.
 * Flatline: To kill. A dead person or thing.
 * Fodder: Derogatory Fixer term for Solos.
 * Guardians: A self-defense gang; generally peaceful and often cooperative with the police.
 * Gaijin: (from Japanese) Derogatory term for outsider. (see Bennie)
 * Gato: (Spanish) A smooth operator; a cool person — also a Fixer
 * Gewalt: (from German) Violence
 * Gibson: Strong foresight. A prophet; someone who tells the future. A psychic.
 * Giri: (Japanese) Closest translation is debt or obligation, but the concept entails much more. Often used with the word "ninjo" by Yakuza to describe the basis for their 'honorable' traditions.
 * Gomi: (Japanese) Trash, junk, or garbage.
 * Gonk: An idiot, fool, schmuck.
 * Handle: A nickname; a working name you are known by on the street.
 * Hard: A flattering term, like cool, hip, tough, etc.
 * Hexed: Having cyberpsychosis — also, being obsessed with the 'Net.
 * Highrider: Earthside term for anyone born, or spend most of their time working, in space. (see Alien)
 * Hound-Tipping: Popular street practice of ambushing and reprogramming police robohounds.
 * Hydro: Streetslang for hydrogen fuel, used to power a sizable number of vehicles in the 2000's. (see CHOOH2)
 * Indie: Independent, self-employed, underground.
 * Info Bro: An information broker.
 * Input: Girlfriend. (see Output)
 * Jack: Money (see Scratch)
 * Kibble: Cheaply produced food product resembling dry dog or cat food, hence the name.
 * Kleptoid: A thief or prowler.
 * Metalhead: Derogatory term for a 'borg. (see 'Borg)
 * The Metro: The underground. (see The Street)
 * The Mob: An organized crime; any crime syndicate.
 * Mr. Who: Also "The Who", a name for an employer, or someone in higher authority.
 * Mushi: (Japanese) Computer glitch or bug.
 * Netrun: To interface with the 'Net and use it to hack into Data Fortresses.
 * Neh?: (Japanese) Expression meaning, "Right?", tacked onto the end of a sentence.
 * Organiskaya: (Russian) The Russian Mafia.
 * Output: Boyfriend. (see Input)
 * Paranoid: Someone who has all the facts.
 * Porky: Someone who loves or collects weapons (from porcupine).
 * Polymer One-shot: Any cheap, plastic pistol, usually in the five to six millimeter range.
 * Posergang: Any group whose members affect a specific look, or bodysculpt job.
 * Proles: The lower class, streetscum (from proletariat).
 * Puppet: Any gang or gangmember who hires themselves out to a corporation or criminal organization; A sellout.
 * Ripperdock: Surgeon specializing in implanting illegal cyberware.
 * Ram: Personality (from computer jargon, RAM).
 * Recycling: Environmentally friendly act of killing someone and taking their corpse to a body bank.
 * Reality Junkie: Addicts of virtual reality, braindance, the 'Net, or video games. (see Vidiot)
 * Rambo: A gun-toting sex kitten (a rambo/bimbo).
 * Ronin: (Japanese) A freelance assassin or mercenary. Usually considered untrustworthy. (a type of Solo)
 * Rockerboy/girl: A musician or performer who uses his or her art to make political or social statements. Rockerboys are not the same as "Rockstars", who are usually "owned" by recording mediacorps and are apolitical.
 * Sardine: A powered armor trooper.
 * Samurai: (Japanese) A corporate assassin or mercenary, hired to protect Corporation property make trikes against other Corporate holdings. (a type of Solo)
 * Scratch: Money. (see Jack)
 * Skeleton: All the collected electronic records kept on a person; their electronic identity.
 * Slammit On: To get violent; to attack someone without reason.
 * Smash: A potent form of alcohol made from CHOOH2.
 * Stim: Any type of stimulant narcotic.
 * Straphangers: Commuters (see Bridge & Tunnel Crowd)
 * The Street: Wherever you live, late at night. The subculture, the underground. (see The Metro)
 * Stuffit: To have sex. Also; to forget something.
 * Svoluch: (Russian) Someone without honor, a bastard.
 * SynthCoke or Synth: Synthetic cocaine.
 * Terminal: A computer interface deck with manual keys. A keyboard.
 * Tip: A token credchip.
 * Tin Can: A suit of powered armor.
 * Throwbacks: Exotics
 * Yono: (Korean) A person who is scum, lowlife (from Yonomoseki).
 * Vidiot: A virtual reality or video game addict. (see Reality Junkie)
 * VRcade: Virtual reality, braindance, and vid-game arcade or parlor.
 * Zombie: A member of a nihilistic movement dedicated to ending their lives in the most violent and spectacular way possible.

Solo Jargon
Being made up of combat veterans, Solo jargon is mostly made of military terms.


 * The AO: Area of Operations. (See also Sharp End and Injun Country)
 * Bag Job: Surreptitious entry, usually to copy or remove material.
 * Bombshell: Evacuate quickly, run
 * Close a Contract: Kill, assassinate. Also: neutralize, grease, wax, hose, pop, dust, smoke and vape.
 * COMINT: Communications intelligence.
 * Cut-out: A go-between, used for security in a covert op.
 * Deniable Person: Someone hired so that a government or organization can disavow any knowledge of that person or his activities if something goes wrong later.
 * Dying of the Measles: A killing that is made to look "natural".
 * ELSUR: Electronic Surveillance
 * Extraction: the removal of a team from its area of operations. Also: A corporate kidnapping.
 * False Flag: To make an operative think he is working for one individual, group, or organization, when he is in reality working for another completely different person, group, or organization.
 * Firelane: The clear area a weapon can put its shots into.
 * Hot LZ: A landing zone under hostile fire; to make a landing under fire.
 * IA: Immediate Action drill. A set series of actions preformed by a combat team to speed reaction to combat.
 * Injun Country: Enemy territory. (See also The Sharp End and The AO)
 * Insertion: Delivery of a group to its target.
 * Kill Zone: The body areas where a weapon used will kill its target. Also: The area of maximum destruction in an ambush situation.
 * Landing Hot: Landing with a damaged vehicle.
 * PZ: Pickup Zone. (see RV)
 * Roll up: to capture
 * RV: Rendezvous point. (see PZ)
 * Sanitize: to remove all identifying marks, fingerprints, etc.
 * The Sharp End: Enemy territory. (See also Injun Country and The AO)
 * Shoes/shoemaker: false IDs and those who make them.
 * Sleeper: Potential operative kept on tap for future use.
 * Slipup List: methodical collection of possible mistakes that might happen during a mission.
 * Technical Penetration: The use of mechanical/electrical information gathering.
 * Tiger Team: Computer experts that test system security by attempting penetration.
 * To get dirty: To be arrested, or otherwise harassed by police.

Reference
PONDSMITH, M. Cyberpunk 2020. 2nd ed. Berkeley CA; R.Talsorian Games, 1990.