GeoJargon: Speaking the lingo, the Geocaching Jargon

Like any sport or pastime, geocaching has its own language. Because the sport is so new, the jargon is still evolving, but here are some terms to be familiar with so when you talk to other people about geocaching, you sound like a pro.

• Archived: Caches that no longer exist but still appear in a Web site database for historical purposes. A cache can be archived because it has been stolen, is no longer maintained, or does not abide by the guidelines for where caches should be placed.
• Cache machine: A preplanned event in a local area, where geocachers look for caches. The event can last hours or days. This is a marathonendurance session of geocaching, where you try to find as many caches as you can in a set amount of time. The event is named after a dedicated geocacher. BruceS, a true cache machine, found 28 caches in 24 hours, totaling 86 finds in 5 days.
• DNF: Did Not Find (as in, did not find the cache). It happens to everyone. If you didn’t find the cache, try again on another day.
• FTF: First To Find. This means bragging rights that you were the first person to find a newly placed cache.
• GPSR/GPSr: GPS receiver. Many people drop the R and just call a GPS receiver a GPS.
• Hitchhiker: An object that moves from cache to cache. A hitchhiker is marked with some instructions, telling the finding geocacher to take it and place it in another cache.
• McToys: Cheap trinkets left in a cache, like the toys that appear in fastfood kids’ meals. There are better things to leave in caches.
•  Muggles: People you encounter on the trail who aren’t geocachers; from the Harry Potter stories.
• Neocacher: An inexperienced or newbie geocacher.
• Signature item: Something unique that a particular geocacher always places in a cache that he or she finds.
• Spoiler: Information that might give away the location of a cache.
• Swag: Goodies that you find in a cache; from the marketing term swag (or schwag) used to describe the promotional trash and trinkets (tchotchkes) handed out at trade shows.
• TNLN: Took Nothing, Left Nothing. Just what it sounds like. Also, TNLNSL, which means that the geocacher signed the cache log.