Slang names or street names for drugs are common. From pingers (MDMA), to fishies (GHB) to going into the K-hole (ketamine), slang use marks someone as an insider with knowledge and experience of illicit drug use. The use of language around drugs is important because people using drugs referred to by slang names could misunderstand what they’re getting.Īt the same time, tuning in to drug slang offers researchers and health workers an avenue by which to track patterns of drug use. A bit of historyĬlinicians and people who study drug use have attempted to catalogue slang terms for drug use since the 1930s.ĭavid Maurer, an American linguistics professor who studied the use of language in the American underworld, published the first glossary of drug slang terms in 1936. The aim was to guide law enforcement as well as to inform doctors, parents and teachers about drug use. The definitions reflect the social and cultural values around drug-taking practices at the time. For example, Maurer’s glossary featured the term “to vipe”, meaning to smoke marijuana. The definition included how beginners were taught special smoking techniques by hostesses, likely sex workers. The use of slang indicates a person uses drugs because they know the secret language of a subculture. With this in mind, researchers seek to identify drug subcultures through understanding language use. In 1979, researchers created a drug slang association test to identify if the number of slang names people knew related to their use of a drug type. The authors found people in prison, who commonly used opiates, knew more slang words for heroin than college students did. More recently, one study analysed Twitter posts to identify new slang. Another study used slang terms in Instagram hashtags to document drug use patterns.įor clinicians and researchers, slang offers insights into drug users’ beliefs and behaviours, which can in turn guide interventions. The average flaccid penis while stretched was 5.16 inches long. According to their findings, the average flaccid hanging penis was 3.61 inches long. The slang words can be metaphors for the drug effects or appearance, giving health professionals an understanding of a person’s drug use experience. In total they collated data from 17 studies measuring 15,521 men. Researchers also believe they get better results from surveys if they use the same language as people using drugs. PingersĪs we find ourselves at the height of music festival season, let’s look at a timely example. MDMA (3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine), or ecstasy, is one of the drugs people take most commonly at music festivals. The term “pinger” (or pinga) is thought to be an Australian creation used to refer to MDMA. Most festival goers attend few events and are only occasional users of illegal drugs, so they may be unfamiliar with slang names and what drug they refer to. Whilst we’re on the topic, if you haven’t already checked out Dovetails “AOD Acronyms and Slang Dictionary” check it out here.The drug they purchase could be completely different to what they expected. Go to “Pingers, pingas, pingaz: how drug slang affects the way we use and understand drugs” This article is also a timely reminder for practitioners to clarify what drug a client is referring to when they use slang to identify a substance. This can become confusing, as there are other similar slang terms noted in the United Kingdom such as “ping-on” reportedly referring to opium, and the term “pingus” reportedly a slang term for Rohypnol. The term “pinger” has now gone global, with evidence of its use now appearing in the United Kingdom. The article briefly explores the history of drug slang, showing how terminology changes over time and in different places.ĭr Allan provides an example of the evolution and uptake of the slang term “pinger” which was first found in the glossary of a surfing book published in 2003. The Conversation recently published an article titled “Pingers, pingas, pingaz: how drug slang affects the way we use and understand drugs”, by Dr Julaine Allan from Charles Sturt University.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |