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Pacifican Slang
Slang Words Used on Pacifia (Beta Virginis IV) | |
| Baruuba | FC (Floating California) term for something that is utterly absurd, baroque and wasted, but still for some reason likeable. The term later spread to other clades. |
|---|---|
| Bellboy | 1) (archaic) Derogatory term for people from Bell Islands, once a mainstream political center. 2) Any unpopular and/or conservative political leadership. |
| Big Surf | A common FC and FC-influenced term for the Utopia Sphere Cetan ISO |
| Bordist | Solarian, someone from the Dominion, especially any of the local Solarist clades or Dominion colonial administration (note, unlike its use outsystem, locally this term is almost always derogatory; equivalent to the Pacifican 'godling') |
| Deep Blue | A popular floater and mariner term for the Utopia Sphere Cetan ISO |
| Discordian | (archaic) Ancient Mainstream term for FCs. The original meaning long lost, it is sometimes used now as a poetic compliment. (See related term Discwuzitian). |
| Dolphin Money | General term for any in-system enhanced dolphin investments |
| Ecobox | Portable greenhouse producing food to make a zep or ship self-sufficient. |
| Equatorials | Archaic term for floaters and mariners. Does not have to mean inhabiting the equatorial zone. |
| FC | Floating California |
| Floater | Culture or clade on the surface of Pacifica that dwells in permanent airborne habitats (Floatcits) |
| Friend | Term used by the inhabitants of Pacifica for each other. |
| Floatcit | Floating city, zeps or houseboats moving together for a celebration, cooperative fishing, education or just for fun. Among the mainstream the term has connotations of sin and excitement. |
| Fundies | (archaic) Christian conservatives and fundamentalists. Not pejorative. |
| Ghost Habitat | Abandoned habitat, mostly in the Kuiper and Oort belt. Ghost habitats previously owned by Pioneers can be dangerous due to booby traps and defences left behind. |
| Gnomes | Arcadians |
| Godling | A Pacifican term, originally a disparaging term for the fundies, later applied to anyone who follows an ecclesiastic religion (e.g. Universalists, Umma, Dominion). |
| Great Whale, The | A popular term for the Utopia Sphere Cetan ISO |
| Greenzep | Zeppelin with a double transparent membrane, pumping an algae solution in the interstitial space. The algae grow in the sunlight, producing protein and methane that can be used to fuel the zep. |
| Hull | Affectionate term for one's boat. Space-going Pacificans also use it to refer to their ship. |
| Hwissan | Floater and mariner term for a enhanced dolphin, regardless of whether they come from Hwsii or not. |
| Hypercane | Super-hurricanes that persist for a long time, circling the planet. The original term denoted supersonic hurricanes; such phenomena do not exist on Pacifica at present, thanks to Utility Fog weather control. |
| Jess Debacle | Historically, the failed attempt by mainstream President Jess to force FC into the fold. Later become a term for ill-advised projects that get the opposite result from the intended. Also 'Jesshead' 'Do a Jess', 'Jess it', 'Jessgate it' etc. |
| Lib | Liberty, the old mainstream NA capital, site of the Pacifica Uprising, now a quaint holiday town. |
| Mariner | Any aquatic clade on Pacifica, or space habitat descendants thereof. |
| Mighty Song | The dolphin term for the Utopia Sphere Cetan ISO. |
| Na | New America Clade State, located in Franklin orbit. |
| Orbital | Orbital habitats or space stations. |
| Poseidon | A popular term among some more strongly modified mariners and some cyborg floaters for the Utopia Sphere Cetan ISO. |
| s tushy | Historical conservative's slang for something truly cool. Generally used in a mocking way by Pacificans. |
| Relatives | FC term for floaters, mariners, or technorats not in FC. |
| Rocky | Originally someone from the Rockies, suggesting a boring mainstream person. Later the term came to have the completely unrelated meaning of someone who lives on or in an asteroid or kuiper body. |
| Salt breath | Lung disease, making the throat and lungs dry and 'salty'. Easily treated. |
| School | Group of Friends moving together. |
| Technorats | Influential orbital and out-system cyborg clade/culture. |
| Temperates | (archaic) The Mainstream, conservative Technorats and Fundies, as opposed to floaters and mariners. Someone who is out of date or out of touch with current events. |
| Underwave | Personal four-seat submarine. |
| Yurg | Popular energetic and erotic dance of floater origin. |
| Zounds | Nickname for the Pacifica space marines. |
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Development Notes
Text by Anders Sandberg
Initially published on 03 January 2001.
Initially published on 03 January 2001.
