Enhance Your Pothead Vocabulary

Let me be perfectly clear here. In no way does this article seek to encourage anyone to abstain from the recreational or habitual use of marijuana, an illegal drug. In fact, quite to the contrary, I think that society needs more marijuana use, not less. We all simply need to calm down. Pot serves as the perfect vehicle for that calmness. No one ever robbed a liquor store while high on Marijuana. Even if it's right next door, it's just tooooo farrrrrr mannnnn! The worst crimes committed by marijuana users tend to be, when at home, raiding the cabinet for Nabisco products (every pothead knows that Nabisco makes the best munchies when you're high - they should sponsor a bill for legalization) or in the car, driving too slow. Living in a retirement town, I can tell the potheads from the little old ladies driving too slow, by the color of their hair. In any case, I digress, this article is for the purpose of discussing pothead vocabulary.

Firstly let's talk about the common names for marijuana among potheads. While for some, the term marijuana would do - cops, lawyers, newbies, scientists - the fact is that the language of the religion of pot worship is far more colorful. Names such as Dope, ganja, magangamau and Mary Jane have given way to more fun names like "bud", "Party Favors" which is self explanatory, and more recently "4:20". The exact origin of the term 4:20 is unknown, but has come to signify all things pot. Indeed, those looking for roommates will often advertise that the home in which a room is offered is 420 friendly, signifying that cannabis consumption on the premises is A-OK. One commonly held theory of where "4:20" comes from is that in the early 1970s, a group of teenagers at San Raphael High School in California, used to meet every day after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke pot at a statue of Louis Pasteur. One thing that supports the idea that 4:20 is based on the time on a clock, is the fact that the number is always said "four twenty". This theory is also the most cited and the most widely accepted. Of course, the term "pot" will likely always work, true connoisseurs of cannabis know that 4:20 says it all. In any case, every day at 4:20 p.m. (and for true diehards, a.m.). pot worshippers light up and worship at their hazy shrine.

The second term for the day is "skinning up". This term is used to denote the action of rolling a joint. The 'skin" is generally a tiny paper used to roll the joint. Zig Zag is the most common brand of rolling papers and the company has made a fortune from people who send their product up in smoke. There are a number of ways to skin up. Some of the most popular are as follows:

Knee Trembler: In a hurry? This is a classic, easy roll that enables you to slow your world down quickly.

Saturday Night Special: If you have big man hands or clumsy fingers, this is the roll for you.

Nose cone: Not for beginners, this fat boy is guaranteed to slow you down and enhance your mellow in a big way.

The creativity among joint (or "blunt") rollers is endless. There are thousands of online tutorials that will teach you how to roll.

That's all for now, except this one thing: it's 4:20 in at least two time zones once each hour, and one extra time per day in Newfoundland Canada, which has it's own time zone, half an hour off of everyone else's. So, pay no attention to the big hand on your clock. Watch that little hand and by all means, get yourself some premium bud and skin up! It's almost 4:20 somewhere!

(note: The author of this article is not actually a pot smoker, so all information given herein is subject to scrutiny as it could all be wrong!)