approximately 8,000 words

A Burner Lexicon is a catalog of words and phrases that are unique to the Burning Man subculture. Like any close-knit group, Burners create slang, in-jokes, and jargon peculiar to their community; these words may be obtuse to newcomers and outsiders. This project is an attempt to mitigate their confusion, with a little sprinkling of a Devil’s Dictionary For the Playa on top.

In the entries below, bold words are words which are defined in that particular entry. Words in italic are the subject of other lexicon entries, current or future. Words which are not defined in the lexicon but can be found elsewhere will appear as a normal link.

All entries by Kit O’Connell unless otherwise noted. Suggestions for future entries are welcome — contact Kit.

A Burner Lexicon

*

• )'(

A

• Art
• Art Car

B

• Bacon
• Bar Camp
• Barter
• Bicycle
• Birgin
• Black Rock City
• Black Rock Desert
• Black Rock Rangers
• Boosh Cannon
• BRC
• Burn
• Burner
• Burner Boots
• Burner Name
• Burner Principles,
• Burnier-Than-Thou

C

• Car-B-Que
• Center Camp
• Chasing Ghosts
• Chicks Dig Guys In Skirts
• Children
• Chill Camp
• Church Night
• Civic Responsibility
• Communal Effort
• Costume Camp

D

• Daisy Ducking
• Darkwad
• Decommodification
• Decompression
• Deep Playa
• Default World
• Department of Mutant Vehicles
• Department of Public Works
• DMV
• Don't Let It Hit the Playa
• DPW
• Drugs
• Dust Angel
• Dustier-than-thou

E

• Effigy
• Esplanade

F

• Flaming Soccer
• Fratboys
• FreezerBurn
• Freezing Man

G

• Gift Economy
• Gifting
• Grassy Playa
• Greeter

H

• Hat, The
• Hippie
• Hippie Fishing
• Hippie Trap

I

• If It Doesn't Come From Your Body, Don't Put It In The Potty
• Immediacy

L

• Lamplighter
• Larry Harvey
• Leave No Trace
• LNT
• Luminaries

M

• Matter Out of Place
• MOOP
• MOOPing
• Mutant Vehicle

N

• Nevada Regional Burn
• Nobody's 7 Burner Principles
• Noise Camp

O

• Old Days, The
• On A Mission
• Oontz Oontz
• Orphan
• Orphan Burn

P

• Participant
• Participation
• Playa
• Playa Coat
• Playa Name
• Playa On Our Matter
• Playa Platforms
• Playasexual
• POOM

R

• Radical Inclusion
• Radical Self-Expression
• Radical Self-Reliance,
• Ranger
• Ranger Name
• Rangered
• Raver
• Re-Entry
• Reality Camp
• Regional
• Relax Harder

S

• Safety Third
• Shade Structure
• Sherpa
• Shirt-cocking
• Social Panties
• Sparkle Pony
• Stealth Virgin
• Swag

T

• Ten Principles
• That Thing In The Desert
• The Playa Provides
• Theme Camp
• Tourist
• Trash Fence

V

• Village
• Virgin

W

• We Are Everywhere!
• Weekenders
• Welcome Home
• Womp-Womp

About the Lexicon

• A Year of A Burner Lexicon
• Opinions and other thoughts on A Burner Lexicon
• Why I’m writing about Burning Man

Other Posts About Burning Man

• A lesson in the dust
• Book Review: The People of Burning Man
• Book Review: The Tribes of Burning Man
• Burning Flipside 2011
• Ritual
• The Story of a Theme Camp: Smack That Ass!
• Theme Camp: Zion Communal Kitchen & Hookah Lounge
• Why the fuck would I want to go to Burning Man?

A Burner Lexicon and the other posts listed above are copyright © 2010, 2011 Kit O’Connell and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. You may use the lexicon freely for non-commercial purposes only as long as you give me credit. This license applies only to the above linked articles, and not to the images used, my other writing or the content of this website unless otherwise noted. The Lexicon can always be accessed at http://kitoconnell.com/lexicon/

The Lexicon is powered by the Lexicographer Plugin, written by Kilian Evang. Special thanks to Lauren Rothman of DefyAuthority.NET for the original idea for this series.