| Tóm tắt: | During the period from about 1975 to 1982, dozens of dictionaries of CB slang were published in the United States, and a few in other parts of the world. The trend was prompted by international political circumstances that limited the supply of petrol to the United States. While several were motivated by commercial interests in promoting CB usage, others appear to express a sense that CB-users were members of a unique cultural group. In many respects a reaction against contemporary cultural trends, CB-user were predominantly white, uneducated, male, and heterosexual, and CB radio allowed them to reassert their sense of unity and belonging. Actually (although no-one recognised it at the time), they were an early example of a virtual community in which individuals could adopt fantasy roles and pursue relationships that did not include face-to-face interaction. Dictionaries of CB slang produced in the United Kingdom show a painful awareness that British users of CB slang looked downright silly, and this is not just because of their wholesale adoption of Americanisms. American CB-users were imbued with the glamour associated with the self-employed truck-drivers, who represented a modern version of the cowboy (and he of the pioneer) of earlier centuries. The independent hard-working tough guys regularly featured in films and in country music, often displaying their sentimental hearts. The image of the British lorry-driver could hardly be more different, but in any case CB radio was introduced into Britain as a recreational interest rather than a professional necessity, and it is thus associated with ham radio enthusiasts rather than lorry-drivers. A further disparity is caused by differences in scale: Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles enjoys imposing scenery and the romance of history; the M66 between Ramsbottom and Whitefield cannot compete.
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