APRICOT ALE: Beer sold by the local Pyramid Brewery. Is flavored slightly like Apricots. Enjoyed by women and Alex Desrochers.

ASADA: Spanish for "Steak". A common meat ingredient in a burrito.

BARGER, SONNY: Founder of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang and Oakland native.

BERKELEY: City that borders Oakland to the north. Famous for their University where the free speech movement of the Sixties began. Still full of hippies.

DINGER: Term used to describe a Home-Run in baseball. Comes from the sound an aluminum bat makes when it connects well with a ball, thus propelling the ball out of the park. Though aluminum bats are not used in professional leagues, they are quite common in college games.

DRAGON'S LAIR: Popular video-game of the 1980s featuring cartoon animation. Relied on the simple user action of shifting the joystick in one of four directions at just the right moment. Insanely difficult and most kids were ubable to last for more than a few seconds. However, every neighborhood had one kid who would pump thousands of quarters into the game until he could last for a long time, if not finish it. The kid was thereby rewarded with a brief stint of popularity.

EDIBLE: Cafe formerly located on College Avenue near the Rockridge Bart Station. During it's heyday, was perhaps the best cafe in the East Bay. Replaced in the late 1990's by a crepe restaurant.

EIGHTH: A slang term used to describe one-eighth of an ounce of marijuana, which is a common amount purchased by casual users.

FOOTHILL & SEMINARY: Intersection in Oakland located in a somehwhat dangerous neighborhood. At any rate, it is not a place where most Montclarions would be welcome late at night.

FREEWAY VARIETY: A small convenience store formerly located next to the old Lucky's in Montclair Village. Famous for being the most popular video-game spot in Montclair (followed closely behind by Icehouse). Also known for the ease of which one might pocket some little pieces of candy. Sadly, Freeway Variety, Lucky's and Icehouse have all ceased to exist.

GAYLORD'S: Popular cafe on Piedmont Avenue. Formerly known as Uncle Gaylord's. Located across the street from the new Starbucks, it was at first threatened by the invading corporate cafe, but now Gaylord's customers just look across the street and laugh at the nearly empty interior of the competition.

GRIEVE, BEN: Former Oakland Athletic since traded to the miserable Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Known for his talent and potential but inability to avoid the double play or even hustle slightly for a pop fly hit a measley twenty feet away from him.

HELLA: Combination of the words "Hell" and "of". Used to describe an unusually large amount of something. East Bay in origin, though the word has spread recently to other parts of the country.

HENDERSON, RICKEY: Greatest leadoff hitter of all-time. One of the twenty best baseball players of all-time. Named greatest Athletic of the century. Came up in the A's organization and won a World Series ring with the team. Holds all-time record for most stolen bases, walks and runs. Set single season record with unbreakable 130 stolen bases in 1982. A most special moment for Oakland youth of the time. The greatest.

HOTH: Planet of the Star Wars universe where Luke got knocked out and kidnapped by a big white snow-monster. Han Solo eventually saved Luke but had to stuff him in the dead carcass of a Ton-Ton in order to keep him warm.

HUDSON, TIM: Pitcher for the Oakland A's who struck out 10 batters in his big league debut in 1999. Finished with 20 wins in 2000 and came in second in the Cy Young balloting that year. Has yet to, but most assuredly will, pitch a no-hitter.

JEDI: A noble class of warriors from the Star Wars series of movies. May also refer to the particular movie Return of the Jedi known for the cheesy use of Ewoks, though nowhere near as bad as The Phantom Menace.

LIAR'S DICE: A game of dice played in bars in Oakland, California in which players are required to lie or "bullshit" the other players as to the amount of particular dice they have in their possesion. Since this game requires unsavory skills, Oaklanders are quite adept at it.

MEDS: Medication prescribed by a doctor. Usually refers to pills, capsules or tablets.

MONTCLAIR: District of Oakland, California, nestled in the hills. Though always one of, if not the, most expensive neighborhood in Oakland, Montclair does not have the elitist feeling of it's neighbor, Piedmont. Montlcair is quite diverse and is populated by old hippies, as well as the expected yuppies.

MS. PAC-MAN: Extremely popular video-game from the early 1980s. Went beyond it's predecessor by featuring different maps with different levels.

NAPSTER: File sharing program that allowed users to copy music files from other users personal hard drives. Declared illegal in 2000. Followed by programs such as Limewire and Kazaa. Helps one to fight the power.

NO-HITTER: Also known as a No-No. A baseball game in which the pitcher throws all nine innings and does not allow a single official hit. Can be jinxed if some moron in the audience (whether live, radio or TV) mentions the words "no-hitter".

OAKLAND: Urban jewel located in the state of California across the bay from the over-hyped San Francisco. Known for it's bad-boy image, Oakland is in fact a rather pleasant place to live. Locals have learned to cherish their negative image, however, as it keeps most of the yuppies out. Famous natives include Clint Eastwood and Too Short.

PHANTOM MENACE: Stupid movie.

NUDIST: Person, other than a small child, who likes to walk around with no clothes on. Sadly, most nudists are not-attractive. Common practice in Berkeley, California.

PERFECT APPLE: A feat accomplished in Ms. Pac-Man by eating all four of the ghosts all four of the possible times and finishing the level without dying. Though this feat is rather common, a perfect Pac-man game, in which the player must complete all of the 255 levels with a maximum point score without ever being eaten, was first played in 1999 by Billy Mitchell. The maximum score is 3,333,560 points.

PIEDMONT: Small, exclusive city surrounded completely by Oakland.

POP ROCKS: Candy that was sold in the 1980's. When it was insterted into the mouth, the candy would react with saliva to create a sort of popping sensation.

QUAKE: First-person shooter computer game developed by Id Software and a sequel to the extremely popular Doom.

RAIDERS: Oakland football team famed for their rough style of play and zealous fans. Also known as The Silver and Black.

SKATEBOARD: Primary means of transport for many young, and not-so-young, Oaklanders.

STARBUCKS: Corporate cafe chain from Seattle. Known for their sterile interior environment and crappy tasting coffee.

STAR WARS: Motion Picture that premiered in 1977 and became somewhat of a religion for adolescent boys of the time. Was followed by two sequels and one prequel. The prequel (see Phantom Menace) almost ruined the wonderful vibe that Star Wars had previously establisehd.

UNREAL TOURNAMENT: First person shooter computer game which specializes in online competition.

YANKEES: Bitterly despised baseball team located in New York City and known for their crass pursuit of championships via their outlandish budget and thieving of other, less wealthy team's players. Chief rivals of the Oakland Athletics.