“Breaker, Breaker, 1-9″
“C’mon back, good buddy.”
“Undertaker, you got your ears on?”
“You got a copy.”
“What’s your 20?”
“I got your back door.”
“That’s a 10-4.”
“I see some ‘gator on the road. How’s the weather up there?”
“Got a pick-em-up, an organ donor, and a pregnant rollerskate tangled. Looks like they put a steak on the grill.”
“Here comes the meat wagon and a smokey in a plain white wrapper. C’mon back.”
“Copy that. There’s a bear in the air, don’t put the hammer down.”
“10-4. I’m gone.”

Were y’all able to translate that? It’s cb radio (citizen’s band radio) slang. Give it a try in comments, and I’ll tell you there what it means.

That was a typical conversation you might hear in my father’s car, or even at his house, during the 1970s. Daddy and Momma were big time cb radio fans. They were as addicted to their cb radios as I am to my e-mail. Daddy had started using cb radios back when he had an electrical contracting business. This was, of course, before the advent of cell phones (for you youngsters out there, remember there was a time before cell phones). Mostly in the early days, cb radios were used by truckers and businesses such as Daddy’s. In the 1970s, the technology got better, and cb radios became much less expensive.

My parents were retired by this time, and they had cb radios in their cars and in the house. My Daddy’s “handle,” or name, was “Undertaker,” but I can’t for the life of me remember Momma’s handle[update: it was "Bugaboo"]. I guess that the radio was their way of keeping connected with people, just as we do with the computer. They had the radio on all the time and interrupted conversations with people in their house to go answer a call on the radio. There were days that I drove the forty miles to their house to visit, and they didn’t even talk to me, because they were busy with their cb friends! I watched fascinated, and annoyed, as they talked with friends, and people they didn’t even know, for hours. Usually I gave up and went home.

One day when I visited, Daddy gave me a present. He thought that I needed one of those radios, since I was in my car a lot. He wanted his little girl to be safe on the road. So, he installed my very own cb radio on my little blue Chevy Nova. I was excited about that, and couldn’t wait to use it. In fact, I got the opportunity to use it on the way home. But, I didn’t know very much about the special language that cb users favored.

A child’s voice came calling over the radio, “Breaker, Breaker, 1-9.” Proud as punch that I was going to get to use my radio, I answered, “C’mon back.” He said, “How’s the weather out there?” I looked around at the sky and said, “Oh, it’s bright and sunny. It’s a lovely day.” There was silence, and then I heard many people breaking into the conversation laughing at me! They were all just a hootin’ and a hollerin’ about what a doofus I was. I didn’t know that “How’s the weather?” meant “are there any policemen on the road?” Duh.

A few weeks later, I was driving up to visit my parents. On the way, I heard “Undertaker” talking on the cb. I broke in and started talking to my Daddy. We were having a really nice conversation, and I didn’t want to interrupt it. I knew if I got off the radio it would be the end of him talking to me. After a bit, my Daddy said, “Gal, it’s taking you a long time to get here! What’s your 20?” He was asking where I was. I told him, “I’ve been sitting in your driveway for forty minutes just so you would talk to me!”

I guess I got my point across, because after that when I took the trouble to drive out to their house, they turned the cb radio down. They didn’t turn it off, and they sometimes still interrupted to go and answer a call. But, they did pay some attention to me when I was there.

I guess it is that experience with my parents that has made me very observant of “communication etiquette.” I surprised my husband when we were first dating. He came to my house to visit, and the telephone rang. I ignored it. He said, “Aren’t you going to get that?” I told him, “No. Let the voice mail get it. I’m visiting with you.” That was a novel concept for him.

Are you at the mercy of your telephone, your cell phone, your pager, and the little “blee-de-doop” that your computer makes when you get an e-mail? Or, do you ignore them and continue conversation with the people who have taken time out of their lives to be with you?

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