If you’re in the same group of people long enough, you develop your own language with them. Even though you all may speak English, the unique words you and your fellow group members use may be unrecognizable to outsiders. To automotive enthusiasts, a “10-footer” is a vehicle that looks good from 10 feet away, but looks worse as you get closer to it; to a baker, that may bring visions of an epic loaf of French bread to mind. There’s plenty more where that came from, such as beater, hooptie, jalopy, econobox, etc. I figure we’ve all heard those terms before. The list below has words that may not be as commonly used. If you use any of them regularly, feel free to let me know in the comments section.
Jicky
I heard this used by a salesman at an exotic car dealership in San Antonio, Texas around 20 years ago. My buddy Jake and I were talking to him about the Jaguar XJ220, which was originally supposed to have a V12, scissor doors, and all-wheel drive, but wound up with a twin-turbo V6, regular doors, and rear-wheel drive. In regards to the engine, the salesman said the downmarket configuration and sound were “jicky,” which I took to mean cheap or crappy. I’ve never heard that word used since then. I think there’s a reason for that.
Turd
This is certainly not a new word for describing something disappointing, but I had never heard it applied to a car until 2008. Right around the time the stock market crashed that fall, I was working at a car dealership. One of my fellow salesman had a Mazdaspeed 6, the high-performance, all-wheel-drive version of its 6 sedan with a 274-horsepower 2.3-liter turbo I4 and a six-speed manual. Excited to know someone who had such an out-of-the-ordinary vehicle, I asked him what it was like to drive, sure that he’d say it was a blast.
I was wrong.
“Eh…it’s a turd.” He didn’t say why, so I can only reason that he’d driven more exotic and exciting cars. Then again, maybe he had and still wasn’t impressed. He added, “After a while, they’re all turds.” With an outlook like that, I wonder if he sold any of the cars on our lot. If he did, he must’ve been a great actor – he’d need to be to hide his automotive ennui so well.
Whiskey Dent
My pal Jake introduced me to this one a long time ago. If I remember things correctly, one day while we were out and about, we saw a vehicle with body damage. He pointed it out, referring to it as a “whiskey dent.” I never have asked him for the exact definition, but I’m pretty sure it means the driver was either drunk or completely careless and bumped into something that left its mark on their vehicle.
Yeehaw-esome
I was born and raised in Texas. Looking back on my life there, I figure it was just a matter of time until I heard a lifted, expensive, luxury pickup referred to as a “Cowboy Cadillac” – there’s plenty of them in the Lone Star State. For some reason, that stayed in the back of my mind while I reviewed trucks that included the 2018 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn Southfork and 2020 Ford F-450 King Ranch FX4.
One day, when I was thinking about how much my fellow Texans would like trucks like those, a word just popped into my head. I was sure they would think my review vehicles were “yeehaw-esome.”
What are some uncommon automotive slang terms you’ve heard or come up with? Let me know in the comments section.
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