Graffiti jargon

Illustration of some terms on the basis of a panel of lakes with Bodé - Character

In the graffiti scene, graffiti jargon has developed over the years . The vocabulary comes largely from American English and is largely understood worldwide. In non-English speaking countries, the terms are often adopted without translation. However, some scene members also reject the English terms and use comparable words from their own language.

A.

Aerosol junkie: Joking self-labeling of some sprayers
All City King: Writer who painted all over the city, characterized is present everywhere with his pictures and, accordingly, Fame has gained (Glory) (eg. OZ )
etching: See etching
ASI edge: Piece of roofing on the train or the S-Bahn that forms the bend to the roof, which is rarely or not at all cleaned and is therefore very popular for tagging

B.

Backpiece on a hooded jacket

Blockbuster in the Los Angeles River

Underground bombing in a London Underground station

Bubbles in the background of a piece , the drips of some bubbles are also clearly visible

Writing by Moses in bubble style

BaBu (abbreviation for Bahnbulle ): Policeman who is in the service of a railway company.
Background: Background of the piece . Originally, this mostly consisted of bubbles / the cloud or single-colored surfaces; today, entire image compositions , landscapes or graphically complex color gradients are often sprayed.
BackJump: Spraying on a moving object while it comes to a standstill (e.g. on a train at a stop)
Backpiece: On the back of a jacket sewn piece of painted cloth and placed maltes Piece for identification purposes
Battle: Non-violent, artistic graffiti competition between writers or crews . The winner earns fame (fame) and is generally considered the better writer afterwards . Neutral referees are called in from uninvolved crews . The style is primarily assessed , but there are also other forms of battles geared towards quantity .
Bench: Originally it was a meeting place for writers at train stations to look out for painted trains passing by, to take photos of them, to discuss them and to exchange news and sometimes blackbooks . Younger writers also learned a lot from the more experienced ( knowledge ). Nowadays, benching is a rather seldom and mostly practiced alone pastime. B. Trainwriters wait for their previously painted trains.
Biten or Biting ( English to bite , bite): Another writer's style or tag is imitated or even completely copied. Often used by toys, it has little reputation in the scene.
Biter ( English to bite , to bite): Writer who practices biting.
Blackbook ( engl. Black 'black' and book 'book'): Book which is used for sketching graffiti and which often also contains photos. Modifications of this are the sketchbook, which only contains sketches, and the travel or guestbook, in which the writer's acquaintances draw. There is no clear demarcation between these forms, so that, for example, a blackbook can also contain pictures by other writers.
Block (s): The simplest 3D effect to add depth to the style
Blockbuster ( Engl. Blockbuster ): Font style consisting of large and block-like letters. Easy to read even from a distance (straight letters).
Bobs: Expression in the Writer language for railway police / railway policeman
Bogarting ( English to bogart 'to acquire something'): Skillful stealing of spray cans (referring to Humphrey Bogart ).
Bombing ( English bombing 'bombing'): Quick and easy, illegal attachment of pieces (quick pieces, silver pieces and throw-ups) and tags, designed for quantity
boss: Safety officer of local transport companies
Botten: Quick exit from the spot when spraying
Bubbles: Round bubble or circular areas of color; often in the background , or -in Fill find
Bubble style ( English bubble , bubble '): Font style consisting of thick and bubble letters. The Writer Phase 2 is considered to be the inventor of this style.
Buff ( English buff , polishing disc '): Cleaning agent for removing graffiti. Originally the name for the cleaning system for railway wagons.
Buffing or buffing ( English to buff , leachate): Removing graffiti.
Burner ( engl. To burn ): Particularly successful, strikingly good piece.
Bust / be busted: The Grasp of Writers by the police

C.

Various spray cans ( Cans ) with essays ( Caps )

B-Boy - Character in a graffiti image of the Mainz Writers Can2

Comment in a graffiti

Can

Spray can

Cap

Spray head / spray valve that allows the paint to dissipate when it escapes due to the pressure in the can. There are different types of caps , which essentially differ in the strength of their spray jet and the associated line thickness on the wall, e.g. B.

Fatcaps: wide beam, lots of color, for large fillings
Skinnycaps ( Skinnies ): thin stream, for outlines
Softcaps: thin stream, little color, for color transitions

Cargo: freight train
Character

D.

Destroyline / Terrorline / Damageline / Hateline: Long, solid line that destroys a surface or a painted picture. Sign of contempt ( disrespect ) relative to the painter whose image cross year was, or sign of displeasure over a z. B. freshly buffed wall.
Diss / diss: Discriminate, belittle, insult someone (often also used outside the scene)
Can / Zotti / can / jug: Spray can
3D style: With the 3D style / style , the contours of the elements and letters without outlines are created solely by light and shadow. Thanks to the developments by DAIM (Hamburg), DELTA (Netherlands) and ERNI (USA), the 3D style has now become established in the writing scene worldwide . (See also: Neck.CNS , Seak , Loomit , Darco )
Drip / drop / nose: Droplets running down if the paint is applied too thickly. Common rookie mistake; partly also a deliberate stylistic device.

E.

End to end in Prague

Egg Shell Sticker: Stickers that are particularly difficult to remove. Mostly printed in one color (black and white).
End to End (also "end2end" or "e2e"): Train image that extends over the entire length of a wagon, but not over the entire height

Etching tags in Chicago

Etching: Leave etching marks with the help of self-made markers (mostly filled with hydrofluoric acid ) . During use and because of the highly toxic acid residues on the object, very dangerous for the sprayer and other people. When it comes into contact with the skin, hydrofluoric acid causes deep and extremely poorly healing chemical burns, even if the skin appears to have only been slightly damaged on the surface.

F.

fading: Smooth transition between two colors within an image
Fame: High reputation and fame with other writers , goal and motivation for many painters
Family couple: Triple Wholecar , which consists of three completely painted wagons, which always stay together and are not separated by the train. Rarely found nowadays because trains are usually cleaned very quickly (see also Married Couple )
Fill-in: The filling of the letters, area within the outlines , either monochrome, e.g. B. with chrome (see Silverpiece ), or multi-colored
Firstlines: Lines with which the image to be sprayed is drawn out; Pieces that only consist of the first outline are called outliners .

Flying Panel in Copenhagen

Flying panel: Smaller train picture, sprayed over the window without reaching the lower edge of the train
Flop / floppy: Regional term for a throw-up
Flow

G

Ghosting

Ghosting: Image that can still be seen after cleaning ( buff )
getting up: Activity of painting (from English to get up the name on a wall ); Also less common: moving up the hierarchy of the writer scene
going over (also covering ): Completely spray images of other sprayers ; Not welcomed in the scene and used as a means to harm other writers (see cross-cuts ).

H

The Hall of Fame in Venice Beach

Hall of Fame / Hall (Hall of Fame): Surfaces that can usually be sprayed legally, and on which the writers mainly attach high-quality pieces . Often they are even hidden. Hall Of Fame often have a long tradition and serve as Battle place and meeting place for writers . If a Hall Of Fame is well attended and known by many writers , it is often visited by artists from all over the world.
Hand skills (dexterity): The ability to use a marker successfully and create an aesthetically pleasing tag .
Hand style: Particularly artful way of tagging .
Highlights: Imitation of light reflexes, mostly in the form of light points (a center with fading , are used around the outside) and in the letter to certain parts of the Pieces noteworthy
High lines: Second outline , which does not lie directly on the outline , but is drawn around the image at a distance from it
hit: Old name for day , hardly used today
Hot spot: Place intended for spraying, which requires a particularly high degree of attention and speed due to heavy traffic or many passers-by

I.

Ink: Color (mostly refill ink for markers )
Inlines: Lines (mostly white) that are drawn along the inside edge of a letter and are used to make the image appear more vivid

Inside tags on the New York subway in 1973

Inside: A tag or throw up or piece within a closed space, v. a. in trains
Inside bombing: Attaching tags and throw-ups or pieces in trains; also the name for an inside piece
Inside piece: Picture in closed rooms, v. a. in trains

J

Junkie cap / needle cap: Spray attachment in which a cannula is incorporated so that extremely fine lines can be drawn very slowly

K

Jug: Another word for spray can
cart: Train, S-Bahn or tram
kill: All images of Writers cross process or paint over
King: Recognized, respected, outstanding writer with a lot of fame ; Since it is difficult to be King in all areas, there are various sub-categories such as "King of the Line", "King of Style" or "King of Bombing"
box: Train, S-Bahn or tram
Kick box: Spray a train, an S-Bahn or a tram
bucket: Another name for a freight train
bucket: Spray on a freight train

L.

Lay-up: Small train stalls, while the official name of the railway is Kehranlage. These are often end stops or junctions where individual trains are parked for cleaning purposes and then driven out again after a short time.
Line: Railway line (train line)
Legend: A writer that everyone knows and respects (e.g. Seen , Cope2, T-Kid170, ...); is known among other things for different styles and locations

M.

painter: Short for graffiti painters.
paint: The execution of a picture using mostly common wall paint and rollers or brushes (see stroke bombing )
Marker / pen / tagger: Felt-tip pen for attaching tags (eg. A Edding )
Married couple: Double Wholecar , which consists of two wagons completely painted on one side, which always stay together and are not separated by the train. Nowadays a rare phenomenon because trains are usually cleaned very quickly. (See Family Couple )
Masterpiece: The best image of a Writers (the writer indicates itself, which is this); originally a name for each piece
grumble: Another word for go paint

Mural by DAIM , Loomit , Darco and others titled Signs of the Times . Otto-Schumann-Weg, Hamburg-Lohbrügge

Mural in France

Mural / Concept Wall: Elaborate, large-scale complete works of various writers who paint a wall with a picture on a certain topic

N

nose: Another word for drip
newcomer: Writer , the still new to the genre, but already past the stage of the Toy is also
Nozzle: Another word for spray head

O

simple oneliner "COFFEE"

Outliner

oldie: Veteran of the graffiti scene. Well respected, mostly older writer.
Oneliner: A throw-up or tag , the letters of which are written in one go without stopping
One-Man Wholecar: Designation for a train car that was sprayed over the entire length and height by a single writer in one action; besides there are z. B. also the One-Man-End2End
Outline: The immediate border or contour of the individual letters. There is also the second outline (also called the frameline ), which frames the entire lettering.
Outliner: Image that consists only of the outline
Overkill: Uncontrolled spraying of the paint out of the spray can

P

typical panel piece on a Zurich S-Bahn

Panel: General name for a train picture under the windows. Originally, this term only referred to pieces that were sprayed between two car doors as a window-down .
Piece (short for Masterpiece )

Q

Quick / Quickpiece: Quickly sprayed piece , which is usually designed in an uncomplicated manner due to lack of time (see bombing , throw-up )

R.

Graffiti Shop is equipped with an anti-theft system. Tver city , Russia .

rack up: The stealing of spray cans
Respect: Recognition of foreign skills and works as well as other writers in general
rock: Another name for painting
Rooftop (house roof): Graffiti on eaves
Roll down: Stroke bombing from top to bottom, with ordinary wall or lacquer paint and brushes / paint rollers / brush pads
Roll up: Stroke bombing from bottom to top, with ordinary wall or lacquer paint and brushes / paint rollers / brush pads

S.

Sketch in a black book

Street bombings in Leipzig

4-color string bombing in Berlin

Second outline

T

Tags in Barcelona

2 throw-ups in Copenhagen

Top to bottom on a Berlin S-Bahn

Rooftop in Berlin

Tag [ tæg ] ( English tag 'marking', 'label', 'sign')

tag: The execution of a day
Throw-up: Quickly painted picture that is only filled in with quick hatching or not at all (see Bombing , Quickpiece )
Top to Bottom (also "top2bottom" or "t2b"): A train image that takes up the entire height of a train car, but not the entire length of the car (see Wholecar )
Toy (English "toy"): Term for an inexperienced (bad) writer
toy: Picture or day of another Writers with the term toy mark or cross process
Train bombing / train writing: General term for spraying trains
Train yard: See yard
Trasher: Retired train wagon.
Trashyard: See scrapyard
Truck: Graffiti on trucks and delivery vehicles, mainly in large cities
Turf: Area in which a writer or a crew is active; Originally the name for a passage area

U

Underground: Spraying underground, e.g. B. Subway or walls in a subway station

W.

Wildstyle pieces on a truck in Paris

Wholecar in Munich

Wholetrain in Germany

Window down panel on a New York subway

wack / whack (English "very bad", "extreme"): Label for bad graffiti or a bad writer
Wall of Fame: See Hall of Fame
watchen ( Engl. to watch "look, pay attention [to something]"): Keep an eye on the environment or specific objects while other people are spraying
Watchman / Watcher: Person who takes care that while other people are spraying, they are not surprised by disturbing people
Wholecar: Name for a single train wagon, which was painted in full height and length with graffiti in one action. In most cases only one side of the wagon is sprayed. Most of the time, several writers share the work on one move; However, if a writer sprays a wagon alone, it is called a one-man wholecar . Wholecars are highly regarded in the writing scene. This type of spraying on trains is very uncomfortable for passengers and transport companies, as it means that no more light can get into the interior of the wagon.
Wholetrain: Name for a train whose wagons were painted from top to bottom in one action. In contrast to the Wholecar , a Wholetrain consists of several individual Wholecars . In a Wholetrain, all of the wagons (at least on one side) really have to be painted.
Wild style: Wildstyles are pictures that are very complex and whose graphic elements are wildly intertwined. PHASE2 and DONDI from New York are considered to be one of the pioneers of this style . Nowadays, wild styles are sometimes so intertwined that they are barely legible. This is mainly done by adding complex elements as well as numerous connections, some of which are influenced by cursive and some of which are newly defined.
Window-down: Train picture, below the window
wrecken ( Engl. to wreck , here zerschrotten ruin ): Since often a little residual color is left in empty cans, they are by piercing and breaking down gewreckt . Sprayers make them after use, for example, Halls of Fame unusable so others (see Toys ) this not to Crossen (ie vandalism) can be used.
Writer: Name for a graffiti sprayer who practices writing
Writing (short for style writing or graffiti writing ): Designation for the design and application of artistic graffiti with the name as the basic element of the composition

Y

Subway Yard in New York City

Yard / train yard: Terrain on which trains or U- / S-Bahn are parked, mostly for cleaning and maintenance
Yardrain: Multiple sprayers entering a yard (not necessarily as a group) to create pictures

literature

Bernhard van Treeck : Writer Lexicon - American Graffiti . Edition Aragon, Berlin 1995, ISBN 978-3-89535-428-1 , p. 160 .
Bernhard van Treeck: The great graffiti lexicon . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-292-X .

Web links

Subway Art 1984 - standard work on stylewriting by Martha Cooper (English)
Learn Graffiti - German Graffiti Glossary (private page)

Individual evidence

^ Stefanie Maeck: Street Art: Art on the street by Mirko Reisser. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. June 23, 2011, p. 3. ( online )
↑ Arne Rautenberg : Power of Graffiti: He has been spraying for 17 years, has worked with the most famous graffiti greats and broken records with his art - around 1995, when he was involved in the largest graffiti in the world on a Hamburg skyscraper. We are talking about Mirko Reisser alias DAIM. In: Kiel News. Journal, No. 150, Week 26, June 30, 2007, p. 2.
^ Bernhard van Treeck : The large graffiti lexicon. Lexikon-Imprint-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-292-X , p. 86 ff.
↑ Hip-Hop Lexicon, see: 3-D Letterstyle
^ Bernhard van Treeck: The large graffiti lexicon. Lexikon-Imprint-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-292-X , p. 341.
^ Bernhard van Treeck: The large graffiti lexicon. Lexikon-Imprint-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-292-X , p. 261 ff.
↑ dict.leo.org Translator: wack (viewed in April 2009)

[1] Stefanie Maeck: Street Art: Art on the street by Mirko Reisser. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. June 23, 2011, p. 3. ( online )

[2] Arne Rautenberg : Power of Graffiti: He has been spraying for 17 years, has worked with the most famous graffiti greats and broken records with his art - around 1995, when he was involved in the largest graffiti in the world on a Hamburg skyscraper. We are talking about Mirko Reisser alias DAIM. In: Kiel News. Journal, No. 150, Week 26, June 30, 2007, p. 2.

[3] Bernhard van Treeck : The large graffiti lexicon. Lexikon-Imprint-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-292-X , p. 86 ff.

[4] Hip-Hop Lexicon, see: 3-D Letterstyle

[5] Bernhard van Treeck: The large graffiti lexicon. Lexikon-Imprint-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-292-X , p. 341.

[6] Bernhard van Treeck: The large graffiti lexicon. Lexikon-Imprint-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-292-X , p. 261 ff.

[7] t.leo.org Translator: wack (viewed in April 2009)