Glossary of common wasteland terms

Following the nuclear devastation, languages evolved and the wasteland is replete with unique words and terms, sometimes created from zero, sometimes created through adapting existing words.

General wasteland

 *  - colloquial term used by wastelanders to refer to the Big Mountain Research and Development Center       and loathed by the Think Tanks of Big MT.
 * Brain-eaters - derogatory term for ghouls.
 *  - having human form or characteristics. Usually used to refer to mutants.
 * ,  - euphemisms for being high on Jet.
 * Lurk - Mirelurk, Nukalurk, Swamplurk, Lakelurk
 *  - slang term for a mutant, usually used in a derogatory fashion.
 * Normal(s), normies, norms - these terms are used to describe someone who is or perceived to be non-mutated.
 *  - the world before the Great War.
 * Prospector (term) - a person seeking resources for mining. Also a polite way of referring to a scavenger.
 *  - in normal parlance a reference to strikebreakers, used in a fashion synonymous with slave, particularly within The Pitt and the Capital Wasteland.
 * Scavenger, ', ' - used to refer to a person who makes a living recovering pre-War items from ruined cities. The shortened variant, Scav, was commonly used in the Boneyard circa 2161.
 *  - scavenging
 *  - a slang term for ghouls or the entire humanoid population.
 * Skag - a derogatory term for a drug addict.
 * Smoothskin - slang term for normal humans, typically used by ghouls.
 *  - an inhabitant of a Vault-Tec Industries Vault.
 * Wasteland,  - a ruined place or area, land that is not usable, land that has no real value or interest refers to the majority of the world's post-nuclear environment in the Fallout universe.
 * Wastelander(s), waster - a catch all term for anyone who lives in the greater wasteland, rather than a collective village, town or city. Simply an inhabitant of the wasteland.
 *  - a person who engages in sexual activities for money, and/or a promiscuous or immoral woman. ie prostitute.
 * Zombie(s) - derogatory term for ghouls.

Pre-War terms
These terms have existed before the Great War but are still see use in the lexicon of post-war life and have largely remained unchanged in their original meanings.
 *  - pre-War term used for a young person who was part of a social group that rejected the traditional rules of society and encouraged people to express themselves through art. And can still be heard post-war used in its original context and in a derogatory way.
 * Brush gun - an informal umbrella term used to refer to any lever-action hunting carbine designed for ease of handling in wooded or brushy country, where ranges run from a few yards to a maximum of 200 yards. And chambered for a large cartridge powerful enough to take down big game at close to medium range.
 * Caravaneer(s) - mercenaries employed to guard caravans.
 * Chem, Chems - (a truncation of "chemical") is slang for "drug." From pre-War.
 *  - a tract of land staked out. A land declaration utilized in mining.
 * Claim jumper - a dishonest miner who violates another's land claim.
 *  - the common term for a wave of civil unrest and protests that swept across the United States of America as a reaction to decreasing food supply and strict rationing instituted by the federal government during Sino-American War.
 *  - a person associated with a subculture involving a rejection of conventional values - considered unpatriotic, uninformed, and naive, typically having long unkempt hair, unwashed and ragged appearance, and generally being unkempt hallucinogenic drug users.
 *  - a woman who engages in sexual activities for money, ie prostitute.
 * Junkie - a person who uses illegal drugs : a drug addict and/or a person who gets an unusual amount of pleasure from or has an unusual amount of interest in something
 * , Mercs - slang term for Mercenary.
 * Nadaville - Hippie slang for a boring place. A portmanteu of the spanish word nada and ville, literally translates into nothingville.
 * Sawbones is an historical slang term for a surgeon, dating back to the early 19th century.

New California

 * Adytowner - inhabitant of Adytum.
 * Adytumite - inhabitant of Adytum.
 *  - a term for a businessman or landowner who possesses great power or influence in a particular industry, like Agri-Barons and Brahmin barons.
 *  - uncommon synonym for junkie.
 * (s) - Short for Casino chips, an alternate term for money within New Reno.
 * , Cons - Short for "Convict".
 *  - a portmanteau of Hub and buck, this was the regional name for bottle caps prior to the rise of the NCR dollar.
 * , Flying - euphemisms for being high on Jet.
 * (s), (s) - Short for "Stimpak".
 *  - slang term for laser pistols, particularly within New Reno.
 *  - a post-War term for an extreme form of nostalgia.
 *  - euphemism for Jet addicts.
 *  - synonym for tribal.
 *  - insult to ghouls.

Capital Wasteland

 *  - used by Vault 87 super mutants to refer to Brotherhood Paladins and Knights.
 * (s) - a derogatory term of Vault 87 super mutants. It is derived from Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus authored by Mary Shelley.
 * Good Fight - A nebulous concept used by Three Dog repetitively.
 *  - used to refer to inhabitants of a given area. Used in a derogatory fashion by the Brotherhood Outcasts.
 * Meta-human - a polite term for super mutants.
 * Metal man - used by Vault 87 super mutants to refer to Brotherhood Paladins and Knights.
 * Mungo - a pejorative term used by the children of Little Lamplight to describe adults.
 * Ugly - used by the Lyons' Brotherhood of Steel to refer to Vault 87 super mutants.

Bright Brotherhood

 * Demon - Nightkin.
 * Far Beyond - travel destination of the ghouls in outer space.
 * Great Journey - the pilgrimage the ghouls want to undergo.
 * The Creator - God.

Chairmen

 *  - a derogatory term used to denote police informants and/or used to describe someone strongly disliked. Also used for cowards and traitors.

Chairmen & Omertas

 *  - a mocking term that refers to Mr. House and his hands-off way of running the New Vegas Strip and his tendency to remain ostensibly neutral in Strip affairs.

The Church of the Children of Atom and Apostles of the Holy Light

 * Atom, Undying Glow, Glow, Atom's Light, Atom's Glow - different names used to represent the cult's deity, nuclear weapons.
 * Great Division - the Great War and a nuclear explosion.
 * Holy Water, Waters of the Glow - irradiated water.
 *  - removing radiation one has accumulated.
 *  - extended wait to be vaporized by a nuclear detonation.
 * ', ' - radiation that persists in the world, particularly the wavelengths that glow.
 * Mother of the Fog - one of the most holy symbols of the Children of Atom. She is seen as a messenger from Atom himself who acts as a guide to those important to His plans and the future of this family (on Mount Desert Island ).

Dead Horses

 * Back When - a term to refer to anything pre-War.
 * Civilized lands, Lands Beyond the Valley - a term for everywhere outside of Zion Canyon, where the cities never fell.
 * Picnic-killers - a term that survived the transition into the Dead Horse language to now refer to Giant ants.

Little Lamplight

 * Monsters - super mutants.
 * Mungo - adult.

Nuka-World raiders

 * Vic - an abbreviation for Victim.
 *  - the term used for the raider boss that rules over the other bosses at Nuka-World.

Pitt raiders

 * Scab - an derogatory term for Pitt slaves.
 * Grinder - another colloquial term for a Pitt slave, but less derogatory.

Treeminders

 * Him, His Frondescence, Great One, The Lord, The One Who Grows, Gives, and Guides, The Talking Tree - Harold.
 * Harvest Month - A term for the time period when Bob’s seed pods ripen and disperse their seeds which results in the creation of new trees, grass, and plants.

Shi

 * Lao wai - a Chinese word meaning obvious foreigner or alien. Largely a neutral term, but can be derogatory depending on the context.

Slags

 * (s) - a term used by the underground dwellers to anyone dwelling on the surface.

Sorrows

 * End That Came in Fire - the Great War.

State of Utobitha

 *  - Legionaries.
 *  - NCR troopers.
 *  - Second generation Mariposa super mutants

Sudden-Death Overtime

 *  - originally from the term face-off, it is now the method used to begin battle. The two groups line up in opposition to each other, and they fight each other to the death.
 *  - fast paced fight.
 *  - when failing to accomplish something.
 * '/' - a wrong doing, one that results in death.
 *  - a round of a fight.
 *  - when one team has the numerical advantage over the other, specifically in a fight.
 *  - a substitute for "on the table."
 *  - an extremely hard move, such as tricking someone.
 *  - the leader.
 *  - a word said in exuberation.

Vault City

 * (s) - doublespeak for slave.
 *  - any place not of Vault City, also an alternate term for wasteland, derived from how Vault City citizens do not think of anything outside of Vault City is part of their world.
 *  - people not of Vault City; interchangeable with Outsider, although it may have a more direct meaning of "a person not of my world."

Triggermen

 *  - to kill or murder someone.

Commonwealth

 * ', ',  - terms used to refer to Institute androids.
 *  - a term for the Institute super mutants.
 *  - abbreviation to refer to The Commonwealth.

Maine

 *  - a euphemism for death, taken from the idiom "take a long walk on a short pier".
 * (s) - a colloquial term for feral ghoul.
 * (s) - a local derogatory term for the local Children of Atom.
 *  - a catchall term for those who originate from the mainland, rather than Mount Desert Island.
 *  - a catchall term for those who originate from Mount Desert Island, rather than the mainland.

Other

 * (s) - a catchall term for those whom live on the surface. Specifically used by those New Vegas citizens whom dwell in the sewers beneath the Las Vegas Conurbation.