An intense – and often ugly – Urban Dictionary understanding of Monterey County.

If you’ve ever driven through Salinas, at peace with the world, only to yank the wheel suddenly to avoid an obstacle, you’re not alone. There’s a name for in it in the Urban Dictionary: “Salinas swerve.”

Used in a sentence, the example reads: “God I did the wildest Salinas swerve today. I am not running over some toddler on my way home. You just never know in Salinas.”

While many entries are more insulting than anything, there is much to be gleaned about Monterey County from Urban Dictionary, the crowd-source site that helped take terms like “b’acne,” “haterade” and “twerking” mainstream.

It also works as a reminder language is organic and ever-changing. According to a recent New York Times article, Urban Dictionary is being increasingly utilized in the nation’s legal system to decode slang, as judges turn to “a more fluid source of definitions” than classic dictionaries.

That said, it’s hard to imagine any of 831’s slang being bandied about a courtroom. But there’s plenty of insight into how locals identify with the area, or – at the very least – enough entertaining commentary for a hearty Web surf.

“Prunetucky” is duly represented – “Dude, enough Denny’s, let’s catch the MST to Prunetucky for some real action” – and defined simply as: “Prunedale, California. So called because it’s more rural than Salinas.”

“Prunetuscany” – Prunetucky’s more recently-coined, gentrified code name – is notably absent from the site, perhaps due to the fact that the site’s young users don’t know much about Tuscany, or if they do, they don’t see a resemblance.

Moving coastal, CSU Monterey Bay students have coined “Ording,” the term for exploring abandoned buildings around Fort Ord, usually at night. The school’s students have also contributed four definitions for their university, two of which refer to it as “CSU Marijuana and Beer.” The most highly-rated definition – the one with the most thumbs ups from readers – is very matter of fact: “California State University Monterey Bay… in Seaside, California on the former Fort Ord military base.” The usage example reads: “What’s there to do at CSUMB? Not much, just drink Nyquil. Sounds cool, pour the sizzurp!” (If you don’t know what “sizzurp” means, you know where to look it up.)

Monterey Jack, it turns out, is a slang term for disappointing or dull (“How was your day then? Fairly Monterey Jack to be honest”), which must have been coined by someone who had yet to try the cheese from the local Shoch Dairy (located in Prunetucky).

Some references to the 831 are tangential, like “Benzopolis,” which is described as an “affluent, resorty place where white people like to be seen driving their fancy cars.” Carmel appears in the example of how to use it properly: “Damn, Carmel-by-the-Sea is the lamest Benzopolis I’ve ever visited.”

Not even local legend John Steinbeck is spared, being described as “some ass from the early 20th century who decided it’d be a good idea to make the lives of high school kids everywhere a living hell by writing a series of books deploring the awful working conditions of farm hands who came to California.”

The definitions for local places include some pretty rich spitballs. Big Sur is said to be where “idiot tourists drive too slow and hang out of cars with their cameras because they are too lazy to stop or pull over so others can get by… Locals hate tourists, but understand that their money is necessary.”

In Carmel, “90 percent of the population are tourists; the rest are known fondly as newlyweds and nearly deads. Any non-tourist seen below the age of 60 in Carmel (aka, the city employees) actually live in Monterey, Seaside or Salinas: This is due to the fact that even in the worst economy, a 1-bedroom, 1-bath shack can sell for $3 million.”

And: “Carmel is most famous for its beach, which is one of the few left in California that allows unleashed dogs. This results in a large number of territorial, dog-obsessed old ladies walking the beach at all hours of the day, screaming at tourists/adolescents who use the beach for non-dog-related purposes.”

Monterey is allegedly a city where “all of the white kids listen to 2Pac, Mac Dre, and Andre Nickatina as they drive around in their daddy’s car.”

Definitions take on even more edginess away from the coast. King City is billed as “95 percent Mexican, 4 percent Rich White Cowboys, 1 percent Other,” while Salinas is a farming town “best known for fertile fields, gang violence, underage drinking and Palma football.”

The most unexpected find, and one that’s hard to see catching on, is “831,” which supposedly is sharing the stage with “143” as a slang term for “I love you.” The explanation goes like this: “I love u… get it? 8 letters, 3 words, 1 meaning.”

I’m not sure I do get it, because that would make “831 831” a complete sentence. But language, and appreciation for a place, can evolve strangely.