Term of the Moment: Psycho Button

psycho button--when you accidentally or intentionally touch the one thing that will make an easygoing stagehand go berserk. Often, the relationship is never the same or completely destroyed. "I pushed his psycho button and he never spoke to me again."

Term of the Day: Bossitis

Bossitis (noun): When an extra man or extra woman is temporarily elevated to the head's position and let's the hubris go to his or her head, making questionable, imperious decisions.

Other Union Slang: a seat warmer

seat warmer (noun): a sub who holds the place for an 802 musician who goes off to play another gig. Similar to a stiff, but seat warmers can't be used indefinitely. Eventually, an absent musician has to give up there chair in the pit.

Term of the Day: Intel

Intel (noun): Intelligence whether a show is going to run or not. "Do you have any intel on whether we are going to survive January and February?"

Term of the Moment: Captain Panic

Captain Panic--a good nickname for a stagehand or stage manager who panics when there is disaster and mayhem backstage...when units are crashing into each other and you need a cool head, this is time when he or she decides to freak out. See also: Chicken Little

Term of the Day: get it on the load out

get it on the load out--when a prop, a flashlight or an important piece of hardware rolls under the show deck, it is often impossible to retrieve. Someone will say, "We'll get it on the loadout,"  meaning the item will be retrieved then, or possibly never. Sometimes said compassionately to the person who lost the item, sometimes not.

Term of the Day: hard-soft rule

Hard-soft rule: a rule on the books by theater owners that is mostly ignored and only enforced when advantageous or useful to them.