Legend tells us that the Inuit tribe had more than fifty words for different kinds of snow. Imagine that, over fifty? Scuba divers have just as much jargon for describing their dive missions. Here’s your scuba slang 101:
1. Aqualung
This is a high-pressure cylinder that contains breathing gas. It comes with a regulator to supply the gas at ambient pressure to the diver.
2. Bootie
This is a neoprene fashioned dive footwear typically worn under open-heel fins to insulate your feet, prevent abrasion and protect your feet during your dive. And yes, it is subject to every joke possible!
3. Buddy
This one is your diving mate whom you are responsible for and vice versa during your dive.
4. Divemaster
A professional-level scuba diver who has charted with a minimum of sixty dives and is qualified to assist dive instructors on dive boats and during accreditation courses.
5. Pool
This pertains to any body of water you’re about to dive in, whether it’s a gulf, lake or the Pacific Ocean.
6. Tech Diver Salute
This is a raised index finger signaling everything is in good form.
7. Purge
This is to take out the contents of something. For instance, draining any water from your regulator.
8. Viz/Visibility
This refers to the distance in how far you can see underwater clearly. It is typically measured in feet or meters.
9. Golden Triangle
This applies to the area between the chin and the nipples where it is the most accessible to store gear such as knives and regulators.
10. No fly time
The suggested time frame divers should wait between their last dive and boarding an airplane.
Communication is the key to scuba diving. Many times, scuba slang stands for the good and bad of the so-called scuba culture. The scuba terminology is still evolving as we speak and everyone is free to add a new jargon to its glossary pages.
