•Bulls: Railroad police. Freight trains are a favorite target of graffiti writers, because their work will be seen nationwide.
•Throw-up: Graffiti done on the fly, often in a public and highly visible place. The letters may be outlines only ("hollows"), or filled with just one or two colors.
•Bomb: A few letters of someone's tag, such as "Ver" for "Verse." When superimposed over a piece by another writer, it can start a tag war.
•Heaven spot: A high and frequently dangerous spot for graffiti, such as a rooftop or water tower.
• TAGS: Graffiti consists mainly of stylized nicknames that writers place on public places, and the writers consider these tags to be a form of self-portraiture. Small letters included within the tag designate the writers' crews.
• CREWS: Writers, who are overwhelmingly young and male, usually paint in two-member crews. They take turns painting and acting as a lookout.
• THE BALTIMORE HAND-STYLE: The modern incarnation of graffiti began in the late 1960s in Philadelphia subway stations, spread to New York, and then filtered down to Baltimore. Each city has a distinct style - Baltimore writings slant decidedly to the left. Letters are unusually chunky and fat, and tend to be joined, as in cursive handwriting.
• TAG WARS: In the graffiti world's hierarchy, writers only paint over work by inferior or less-experienced scribes. The goal is to "improve" the underlying piece. When the artistic merits of the covering image is in dispute, a "tag war" can ensue in which rival writers paint over - and vie to outdo - one another.
• GONE WITH THE WIND. Writers know graffiti might be whitewashed by city workers or painted over by another crew. The experienced carry portfolios of their best work, photographed while it is fresh.
