Nicknames we sailors call the different ratings...
 

In the Navy, the sailors call each other by different terms. Some are:
Submarine guys = "Bubbleheads"
Air ratings = "Airdales"
Engineers = "Snipes"
Cryptology = "Spooks"
Construction = "Seabee" or "bees"
Nuclear power = "Nukes"

However, within each group we also have names for the different ratings. You will hear some "colorful" words while in the Navy, especially from your RDC in boot camp. So you are aware of these terms, I will not sugarcoat it.
Some are:

ABF Aviation Boatswains Mate Fuels = "Grapes" or "Fuelies" - Because they wear purple jerseys and helmets.
AD Aviation Machinists Mate = "Nose Picker" - They pick apart the nose of the plane. They inspect, adjust, test, repair and overhaul aircraft engines and propellers maintenance of turbo-jet aircraft engines and associated equipment.
AG Aerographers Mate = "Weather Guesser" - They never get the weather right, just like the ones on tv.
AM Aviation Structural Mechanic = "Tin Benders" - They are responsible for maintenance on the aircraft fuselage (mainframe), wings, airfoils, and associated fixed and moveable surfaces and flight control
AO Aviation Ordinanceman = "BB Stacker" - They load the ammo like a BB gun. Motto: IYAOYAS "If You Ain’t Ordnance You Ain’t Sh*t"
BM Boatswains Mate = "Boats" or "Rope Dopes" -They work with rope all the time.
CS Culinary Specialists - "Chef" or "Cookie", "Rice Cooker" - They cook rice at EVERY meal.
DT (Now HM's) Dental Technician = "Tooth Fairy" - What can I say? self explanatory.
PACT - "Deck Ape" – Any member of the Deck Department except GM. While GMs were organizationally in the Deck Department, to call one a Deck Ape invited the loss of blood and/or teeth.
GM Gunners Mate = "Gun Monkey" - A monkey that works on guns.
MC Mass Communications Specialist = "Shutterbug" - This comes from the old days when they were photography mates.
EM Electricians Mate = "Sparky" - They mess up, they get sparkies everywhere. The sparks are actually blue in color.
ET Electronics Technician = "Twidget" - A sailor who works or maintains electronic equipment, always carrying a "tweeker" (an adjuster) in there breast pocket to adjust components.
HM Hospital Corpsman = "Penis Machinist" or "Pecker checkers" - This is an old term that is still around because they do all the medical stuff. Motto: "With Love from a rubber glove".
HT Hull Maintenance Technician = "Turd Chaser" - If the toilets get clogged, they are the ship's roto-rooter experts.
MM Machinist Mate = "Monkey's Mate" - They are the monkeys that do everything.
PR Aircrew Survival Equipmentman = "silk packers" - the Parachutes material appears like silk
QM Quartermaster = "Wheels" - They steer the ships wheel guiding the ship to where it needs to go.
STG Sonar Technician = "Ping Jockey" - The sonar makes a "pinging" sound when the sonar makes a hit.
YN Yeoman = "Yoyo's" or "Quills" - Yoyo's since yeoman sounds like it. The quills refererences the old days when you wrote with quills instead of pens and pencils.

There are many others, but I can't think of them all. So add the others you have heard.

do you know of one for master at arms

AG - weather guesser. Michael's well used to hearing this. We also call the professional weathermen on TV the same thing cause they also tend to be not so accurate on their forecasts either. :rofl: The list is funny I will admit.

I love the motto :rofl: :rofl:

Thanks for sharing this Craig! I'd like to know if there's any for the 'spooks' because there's a bunch of them here at my NRS. :p

haha. Sounds like me in high school when I'd be under the hood of a car in the automotive shop and be called to the welding shop because somebody messed something up and I knew how to fix it. Maybe this rate will be good for me after all. :P

Now to convert Boats post for you newbies.....
As Boats posts, these are actual Navy terms....
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Me and Willy were lollygagging by the scuttlebutt after being aloft to boy butter up the antennas and were just perched on a bollard eyeballing a couple of bilge rats and flangeheads using crescent hammers to pack monkey shit around a fitting on a handybilly.

All of a sudden the dicksmith started hard-assing one of the deck apes for lifting his pogey bait. The pecker-checker was a sewer pipe sailor and the deckape was a gator. Maybe being blackshoes on a bird farm surrounded by a gaggle of cans didn't set right with either of those gobs.

The deck ape ran through the nearest hatch and dogged it tight because he knew the penis machinist was going to lay below, catch him between decks and punch him in the snot locker.

He'd probably wind up on the binnacle list but Doc would find a way to gundeck the paper or give it the deep six to keep himself above board. We heard the skivvywaver announce over the bitch box that the breadburners had creamed foreskins on toast (SOS) ready on the mess decks so we cut and run to avoid the fustercluck when the twidgets and cannon cockers knew chow was on.

We were balls to the wall for the barn and everyone was preparing to hit the beach as soon as we doubled-up and threw over the brow. I had a ditty bag full of fufu juice that I was gonna spread on thick for the bar hogs with those sweet bosnias. Sure beats the hell out of brown bagging.

Might even hit the acey-duecy club and try to hook up with a westpac widow. They were always leaving snail trails on the dance floor on amateur night.

Now, For you Land Lubbers OR those of you who may have forgotten . . .

GLOSSARY OF TERMS
lollygagging-----goofing off
scuttlebutt-----drinking fountain
aloft-----in the superstructure
boy butter-----light tan grease or silicone - for antennas and masts
bollard-----attached to a pier or deck to secure mooring lines.
bilge rats-----Engineering ratings
flangeheads-----Enginemen
crescent hammers-----Cresent wrenches
handybilly-----P500 submersible pump


dicksmith-----Hospital Corpsman
hard-assing-----Giving someone a hard time verbally
deck ape-----Personnel assigned to the deck gang, usually Boatswain Mates
pogey bait-----any sweet stuff like candy, etc....(bought in the ge-dunk)
ge-dunk-----Place to buy pogey bait
pecker-checker-----Hospital Corpsman (HM's have all types of colorful names)
sewer pipe-----Submarine
gator-----Ships of the amphibious force
blackshoes-----Non-aviation ratings
bird farm-----Aircraft Carrier
cans-----Destroyers
gobs-----sailors


hatch-----doors, entrances through a bulkhead (wall)
dogged it-----activate a handle that puts the locks into place
penis machinist-----Hospital Corpsman
lay below-----to go to a lower level of the ship...below the weather decks
snot locker-----nose


binnacle list-----Medical department list of personnel in a no/light duty status
Gundeck-----to falsify a record
deep six-----to throw overboard
skivvywavers-----Signalmen
breadburners-----cooks [or stewburners or gut-robbers]
fustercluck /cluster&%# -----self-explanatory [Chinese fire drill, to those less PC]
twidgets-----men who work in electronics fields
cannon cockers-----Gunnersmates


balls to the wall-----full speed ahead
barn-----home port
hit the beach-----go on liberty
doubled up-----moored securely to the pier
brow-----walkway from ship/shore/ship
ditty bag-----small canvas bag issued to sailors to keep incidentals in
fufu juice-----cologne
bar hogs-----young/old ladies who frequent sailor bars
bosnias-----Big Old Standard Navy Issue Asses
brown bagging-----refers to married sailors who live off the ship while in port and bring lunch in a brown bag.


acey-duecy club-----Club for E5s and E6s (PO1 & PO2)
westpac widow-----women whose husbands are at sea
amateur night-----payday night

From my resident former EN - he said he's never heard the name flangeheads.

Booter - Most recent RTC graduates

It's really hard to find an official Navy publication saying the names. But:
Go here and read page 44
http://www.navy.mil/media/allhands/acrobat/ah200104.pdf

Now to see if I can find an official Navy publication saying "Pecker Checker"....:rofl:

I found what you sent me looking for and will pass that along to my "grease-monkey who now works on machines for a major world-wide equipment company. But he still says he never heard that name when he was in the Navy. Thanks Craig for finding it.

rent-a-cops, pecker checker, weener screener, they have to watch you piss for a piss test

Anything for LS?

EM's are also sometimes called Electrical Monkeys, and Nuke EM and ET's are sometimes collectively referred to as "Wire Biters"

OS= Scope Dope

I've heard Aircrew referred to as "Flying Trunk Monkeys"... and Aviation Rescue Swimmers "Shark Punchers". :Airplane:

Once I get to the fleet im going to call the aircrew "fruit of the loom"

when I went to boot, we were called "Ricky Recruits" until our first year anniversary in the US Navy!

BTW... I'm not a family member, but a retiree... you don't have my rating listed. :( I was an Illustrator Draftsman (DM). But I could not sign up without picking something.

My Chief calls us "buncha hellen kellers" lol.

Also, all nukes are collectively referred to as "Glowsticks" (EM, ET, and MM's alike)

anyone got a nicname for ABH?
 

I was just wondering if anyone had a clever nickname for the ABH's?

Any nicknames specific for the CTs?

What about SECF, does anyone have a certain name for them?

"Spooks". And most of our work is discussed as "secret squirrel" things.

Sub guys in general are typically referred to as "Bubble heads".

BM - paint chippers

Anything for IS or is that the same as "Spooks?"

there's one for ELTs but Im not sure if its appropriate

According to my father who was HM/BM the BM also gets called bowel movement (at least when he was in the Navy)

I strongly advise against calling a Boats a Bowl Movement... haha Just a pro-tip

/r
CTT1

Spook. Really that applies to anyone that does classified work since nobody outside of our shops has any idea what goes on in there.

(For those of you who won't be in there, no we're not looking at UFOs. Promise. Super Promise)

/r
CTT1

Calling ELTs a SMAG is probably also a really bad idea....

Also Ive heard ETs called extra terrestrials

I think if they did want me to look at something E.T like, Id pee myself LoL

You won't haha But we do get to see what's actually going on in the world, which is still pretty freaking cool.

/r
CTT1

Advance Broom Handlers

Flying shithooks

Or flying blackshoes (referring to regular boatswain's mates)

(SK) or Storekeepers = Box Kicker
Nukes were also called Glow Worms
On my first command we called our Supply Officer "Chop", because his collar device looked kind of like like a porkchop.

Funny
 

Very funny