“One toke over the line . . .”
That 1971 hit by the duo Brewer and Shipley was written as a paean to marijuana. On Last.fm, Tom Shipley commented, “‘When we wrote ‘One Toke Over the Line,’ I think we were one toke over the line.” Back in that day, marijuana was lumped in with all sorts of drugs deemed to be forbidden. But now, recreational use is legal in several of the United States. So, as a leading source of terminology for you English-speakers, we’re providing you with a mini-glossary of terms you may be reading or hearing about as smoking comes out of the basement and into the legal light.
420 and 710
Some of you may know that 4/20 (April 20th) is celebrated as marijuana’s global holiday. But, that date is said to have originated from a 1971 group of pot-smoking teenagers called the Waldos who would meet at the San Rafael High School campus statue of Louis Pasteur at 4:20pm every day to get high.
7/10 (July 10th) is the day (and term) used to celebrate dabs and cannabis concentrates. To some, the number 710 spells oil when placed backward (that’s what a dab is … get it?).
Cannabis
OK, time to get technical. Cannabis is the given name for the hemp plant. Our definition goes on to state “the flowering tops of the plant; any of the various parts of the plant from which hashish, marijuana, bhang, and similar mildly euphorigenic and hallucinogenic drugs are prepared.”
There’s two different kinds of听cannabis: indica and sativa.听French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck is credited with drawing the distinction between the two major varieties. He observed that the听Cannabis indica听plant grew shorter than its counterpart, but had wider leaves.听Traditionally,听Cannabis indica听strains are associated with sleepiness, relaxation, and pain relief. In contrast, Cannabis sativa strains are considered more uplifting and energetic. However, there has been considerable debate over the application of these terms. Contrary to popular belief, some claim there鈥檚 little difference between the effect of the two species.
OGmedicinals.com
THC and CBD
You may have come across the letters THC and wondered what the acronym meant. This stands for “tetrahydrocannabinol.” It’s really the gas that powers the marijuana engine, so to speak, and it’s the chemical compound responsible for the effects you experience after smoking.听According to HonestMarijuana.com “Although THC is only one of 85 plus chemical compounds known as cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant, THC is the primary psychoactive ingredient. It takes almost all the credit for creating your cerebral high.”
Now for the other letter combo, CBD, which stands for “cannabidiol.” It’s another one of those 85 chemical compounds found in pot. CBD has health benefits, and it’s one of the reasons why marijuana may be听medically legal where you live. It doesn’t produce the high like THC does, but it does suppress nausea, calm anxiety, help insomnia, and may even have antioxidant and neuroprotectant benefits as well. Wow.
Cotton mouth听补苍诲听munchies
Cotton mouth (besides being a snake) is a side effect from smoking marijuana. Your mouth can become very dry … like a cotton ball.
But, silver lining, eating candy or chewing gum can help as a deterrent. And, that leads us to听the munchies.听Either you’ve experienced this personally or heard about it second-hand, but after smoking marijuana, you get what are known as “the munchies.” There’s a reason for that! SmithsonianMag.com notes, “A team of European neuroscientists led by Giovanni Marsicano of the University of Bordeaux has found that, in mice, THC fits into receptors in the brain鈥檚 olfactory bulb, significantly increasing the animals鈥� ability to smell food and leading them to eat more of it. A big part of the reason why you might eat more food after using marijuana, the research indicates, is simply that you can smell and taste it more acutely.”
One Girl Scout was of that research recently. Tagalongs庐, anyone? This girl is going somewhere.
Bogart
If your first inclination is to think of the legendary actor, you’re right on the mark. Our definition explains it all: “to take an unfair share of (something); keep for oneself instead of sharing: Are you gonna bogart that joint all night?” Here’s looking at you, indeed.
Jefferson Airplane
Aha, a counter-culture reference from the 1960s. The Jefferson Airplane was a 1960s San Francisco rock band that was instrumental, along with the Grateful Dead, in creating the “psychedelic” rock sound. They hung out in the epicenter of the hippie movement, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
But, Jefferson Airplane also means the听V shape of a match (when it’s broken in half).听This can be used to hold a joint (or roach) when it gets down to the very end (to avoid burning your fingers!)
叠濒耻苍迟听补苍诲听bong
Blunt:听“having an obtuse, thick, or dull edge or point; rounded; not sharp: a blunt pencil.”听Blunt:听“a cigar stuffed with marijuana.”
This slang reference to a marijuana cigar (which is much bigger than a marijuana cigarette or joint which is rolled with normal rolling papers) came about because most people rolled marijuana in the Phillies Blunt brand of cigars. Simple enough.
A bong听is a “a type of hookah or water pipe for smoking marijuana or other drugs.” And, these pieces can get artistic. It’s glass blowing with a function, and it can turn into something really beautiful. (And, yes we are saying donuts are beautiful ….)
And then, there are some that aren’t as artistic … the more DIY type of thing. Gravity bongs听are homemade devices for smoking marijuana. They are made by submerging a modified plastic bottle into a larger container of water, which is said to harness gravity in order to pull smoke down into the bottle鈥檚 chamber as the bottle is lifted from the water. Classy.
Aeroponics
Getting a little scientific here.听Aeroponics听is “a method of growing plants without soil by suspending them above sprays that constantly moisten the roots with water and nutrients.” It’s cutting edge in the world of weed.
It’s not a new science though. Even NASA has used it to grow beans on one of their space stations. It uses less resources (water, soil) and produces more. Win-win. There are challenges to aeroponics, though. Temperature, water amounts, and roots are all things a grower needs to be hyperaware of when growing marijuana using aeroponics … which is why hydroponics still reigns supreme in this industry.
And then, there are the听many different slang terms for pot, weed, marijuana, cannabis (insert your word-of-choice here鈥擳ime.com says there are over 1,200 different names). Here a few origin stories for some of your favorite (maybe even retro, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a comeback) slang terms:
Chronic:听Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre developed the malapropism听chronic听after smoking hydroponic marijuana for the first time. As Snoop described it to actor Seth Rogen on his GGN internet show: “White boy came; he had some shit called hydroponic. But, we got so motherfcukkin’ high, niggaas said, ‘hydrochronic.’ And that’s when we started calling it chronic.'”听While we hesitate to doubt Snoop Dogg,听chronic听as cannabis slang may have originally described extremely potent marijuana based on the medical sense of the word as 鈥渟evere鈥� or 鈥渆xtreme.鈥�
Marijuana:听This is really the default term and the Spanish term for the plant. Time.com mentions “Many in legal U.S. markets have tried to move away from this term, because of its association with the illegal drug trade, and instead use cannabis.”
Pot: The Spanish word for marijuana leaves is potiguaya, and this is the shortened version. Who knew.
Kaya
:听Kaya听is Jamaican slang, in use since at least the 1970s.听In 1971, Bob Marley and the Wailers composed a song called 鈥淜aya鈥�听on the album听Soul Revolution, which featured the chorus:听鈥淕ot to have听kaya听now / For the rain is falling.鈥� In 1978, they released the album听Kaya, which included a reworked version of the track from听Soul Revolution, which further popularized the term听kaya听among his fans into the 1980s.Grass:听This one sounds really dated, like it sprang from the early pages of Doonesbury or Rolling Stone. And, it is … it’s from a time when cannabis quality wasn’t quite what we see today鈥攊t tended to resemble grass clippings more than an actual flower.
Mary Jane
: Mary Jane is the English version of the Spanish name:听Mar铆a Juana … enough said.Muggles:听Harry Potter fans will recognize this term right away. In this context, it takes on a slightly different meaning though. As slang, it is used for a joint or marijuana cigarette and was coined by American jazz artists in the 1920s and 1930s. According to the website (honest), Musician Hoagy Carmichael said “‘It’s the summer of 1923. We took two quarts of bathtub gin, a package of muggles, and headed for the black-and-tan joint where King Oliver’s band was playing.'”Rainy Day Woman:听It’s Dylan, so we must include it. Hello … “,” and you can’t forget the lyric “everybody must get stoned.”
Reefer: This one typically refers to听“a hand-rolled cigarette, especially one containing cannabis.” This term is nautical in nature and is derived from the fact that they bear a “resemblance to the rolled reef of a sail.”
And, we can’t forget the list Canada put together for us … . (The Canadian government website has since taken this article down.)
Finally, if this wasn’t enough for you … we leave you with, er, this epic film from the 1930s.
