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The street glossary

Graffiti and sticker art vocabulary, one sentence per term. Mostly borrowed English, rarely explained — which is why it is here.

All-city
Being seen everywhere in a city, end to end. The hardest compliment to earn, because it is measured in kilometres walked.
Bite
Copying someone else's style. It is the scene's most serious accusation, and it does not get withdrawn.
Blaze
The name a writer picks and signs. A short blaze paints fast, which is not a detail.
Bomber
Covering an area quickly and in quantity. The opposite of slow, careful work, and owned as such.
Buff
Removal by the city or the owner: pressure washing, painting over, scraping. The buff is part of the cycle and everybody knows it.
Burner
A finished, complex piece that visually flattens everything around it. Said of a wall, not of a sticker.
Cap
The nozzle on a spray can. A thin cap draws a pencil line, a fat cap fills a wall — changing cap changes the whole gesture.
Crew
A group that paints together and signs under a shared set of initials. Not a hierarchy, a shared signature.
Fill-in
The inside of a letter, as opposed to its outline. That is where the colour goes, and the time.
Flick
A photo of a piece. Since almost everything is eventually removed, the flick is often the only thing left.
Getting up
Being seen: putting work up a lot, often, everywhere. Quantity is what counts here, not quality.
Going over
Covering someone else's work. Tolerated if what you put up is better, taken as an insult otherwise.
Hall of fame
A wall where putting work up is allowed and where you take your time. It holds a city's best work, because nobody there is in a hurry.
Handstyle
A writer's handwriting, the way they draw their blaze. As recognisable as a signature, and for the same reason.
King
Whoever dominates a metro line, a neighbourhood, a city. The title is taken, not given.
Paste-up
A poster drawn elsewhere, then glued up. It comes off without damaging the wall, which makes it the gentlest form of putting work up.
Piece
Short for masterpiece: worked, multi-coloured, needing time and a wall you do not have to leave at a run.
Roll-up
The paint roller, used to cover very large very fast. Little finesse, a lot of surface.
Slap
A sticker put up in the street. The word comes from the gesture: you slap it on in passing.
Spot
The chosen place. A good spot is visible, reachable and lasts — all three at once is rare.
Stencil
A cut-out shape sprayed through. Fast to put up, reproducible identically.
Sticker bombing
Covering a surface in stickers, yours and other people's, until the surface disappears underneath. Whole letterboxes go this way.
Tag
The signature, put up fast, in one colour. The simplest and oldest form, and the most argued about.
Throw-up
Two colours, rounded letters, a few minutes. Between the tag and the piece, and built for speed.
Toy
A beginner, or someone who puts work up badly. Not an insult when you accept it, and very much one when you deny it.
Wheatpaste
The flour-and-water glue used for paste-ups. It holds very well, costs almost nothing, and gets made in a kitchen.
Writer
Someone who writes — the word the scene prefers to «graffiti artist». It says what it is: letters first.
Yard
A train or bus depot. The most sought-after and most dangerous ground, and the one the whole culture was founded on.