The document discusses drug slang terms and their semantic relations. It analyzes terms related to marijuana, cocaine, PCP and other drugs. Terms reference qualities, quantities, sensations caused by drugs, people involved like dealers and users, and places of sale and use. Despite some arbitrary terms, regular patterns emerge around referencing attributes, origins, and effects of different substances. Drug slang semantically codes information important for users' social interactions and communication within their contextualized environments.

1. A drug slang
dictionary
Unusual semantic relations

2. ● It is important to point out that though the groups of
speakers are constantly creating semantic associations
for new terms, they keep continually in contact with their
standard language, which means that the possibilities of
paradigmatic choices may assume either the features of
the regular, accepted, standardized referents or adopt a
more restricted and therefore contextualized one.

3. ● Babysitter (referring to marijuana) is more
likely to be perceived as a slang than
Indian hemp, since the references of the
latter can be easily recognized by the
average of speakers.

4. ● On the other hand, the widespread term
Marijuana does not present a clear
relation with the semantic categories that we
normally attribute to the drug itself, it is no
longer perceived as a term deprived of
references.

5. ● Mother
● Machinery
● Gold star
● Lovelies
Less recognizable

6. More recognizable
● flowers
● Locoweed
● firewood
● rip
● laughing

7. The variety of references can be construed and
incorporated to the slang in a very flexible way. In the case
of marijuana, this flexibility seems to be even more
extensive.
This set of references may include the attribute of illegality,
the origin – place where the herb is cultivated - sensations
caused by the substance and even persons from popular
culture who are allegedly known as marijuana users

8. For example
● muggles– a term probably derived from
smuggles, just as we have muamba in PB.
● kate bush – the singer. Though the term
Bobby (referring to Bobby Marley) is not
listed on the dictionary, it is very common
among brazilians.

9. How does the constant use of a certain
slang can change the way we perceive
its references?

10. When dealing with new object, all the prior
recognizable characteristics are taken into
account. In the case of slang, especially drug
slang, an inverse process takes place, and the
lexical choices reveal the semantic categories
being openly associated .

11. A broad sample of terms related to marijuana
shows the strict relation between
this specific drug and geographical referents.

12. Exemple :
afgani indica
acapulco red
african black
african bush
african woodbine
angola
cambodian red/cam red
canadian black
chicago green
colombian
hawaiian black
indian boy
indian hay
indian hemp
jamaican gold
jamaican red hair
manhattan silver
mexican brown- Marijuana; heroin
mexican green
mexican locoweed
pakistani black
panama cut
panama gold
panama red
ghana

13. In the case of drug there is an additional aspect: the need
to hide the meaning, not be understood by those who do
not belong to the group. Nevertheless, some terms seem to
openly reveal what is behind them. These terms are more
likely to be used when there is no risk involved. Similarly to
different kinds of slang, they create a certain identity for the
group, but are not necessarily designed as to hide the
meaning.

14. Sensations caused by the chemical effects
appear recurrently associated with the
concrete object.

15. Marijuana
● laughing grass
● laughing weed
● feeling
● giggle smoke
● giggle weed
● happy cigarette
● happy stick-

16. PCP
● animal tranquilizer
● elephant tranquilizer
● horse tranquilizer

17. COCAINE
● bonecrusher- Crack Cocaine
● Nose-scratcher
● Speed (in western Europe)

18. Slang can also be a way of expressing irony
and therefore the semantic relations
are not "genuinely" established. Allusions to
terms associated with parental relations can be
taken as examples.

19. Allusions to terms associated with parental
relations can be taken as examples :
● aunt mary– Marijuana
● baby bang– Marijuana
● babysitter– Marijuana
● aunt nora- Cocaine

20. Associations with features that more or less correspond to
the physical aspects of the drug are considerably frequent
when an isolated term or the head of a compound is a
noun. In this sense, terms like weed and herb are used for
marijuana, whereas crystal and powder are respectively
associated with PCP and cocaine.

21. MARIJUANA
● bad seed- Marijuana
combined with
peyote; heroin
● corn
● dew
● ditch weed
● draf weed
● drag weed
● earth
● flower
● flower tops
● hay butt
● herb
● herb and al-
Marijuana and
alcohol
● herba

22. PCP
● krystal
● krystal joint
● magic dust
● orange crystal

23. COCAINE
● angel powder
● bernie's gold dust
● big flake
● foolish powder- Cocaine; heroin
● friskie powder
● have a dust

24. Despite of playing with semantic fields and relations, there are other
references:
The persona of the dealer (person(s) that sell drug), In these cases concepts
are associated according to the roles or acts performed. Compounds may
present the semantic relation activity-actor.

25. Selling relation
● author- Doctor who writes illegal prescriptions
● body-stuffer- Individual who ingests crack vials
to avoid prosecution
● bag man- Person who transports money; a
person who supplies narcotics or other drugs, a
pusher
● beat artist- Person selling bogus drugs
● bomb squad- Name of crack-selling crew
● come up- A person who sells drugs for money;
to take a small amount of money and increase
to a large amount.
● hawkers- Individuals who walk through a
setting (nightclub) announcing the availability
of a drug (typically MDMA, GHB, or LSD)
● juggler- Teen-aged street dealer
● leo- Law enforcement officer
● mule- Carrier of drugs
● peddlar- Drug supplier
● tout- Person who introduces buyers to sellers
● travel agent- LSD supplier
● uncle- Federal agents
● zoomer- Individual who sells fake crack and
then flees

26. Places relation
● abandominiums- Abandoned row houses where drugs are used
● box labs- Small, mobile, clandestine labs used to produce
methamphetamine
● brewery- Place where drugs are made
● c joint- Place where cocaine is sold
● coke bar- A bar where cocaine is openly used
● copping zones- Specific areas where buyers can purchase drugs
● crack house- Place where crack is used
● crack spot- Area where people can purchase crack; place where crack is
sold, but not used
● factory- Place where drugs are packaged, diluted, or manufactured

27. ● get off houses- Private places heroin users can purchase & use heroin for
a fee
● hit house- House where users go to shoot up and leave the owner drugs
as payment
● set- Place where drugs are sold; Talwin and ritalin combination is injected
and produces an effect similar to the effect of heroin mixed with cocaine.
● shooting gallery- Place where drugs are used
● stash- Place to hide drugs

28. We can share the vocabulary in various other
semantic fields :
● Quality
● Quantity
● Physical or mental disturbances caused by heavy or
frequent use
● Other case

29. Quality:
● bammies- A poor quality marijuana
● black mo/black moat- Highly potent marijuana
● blanks- Low quality drugs
● crap- Low quality heroin
● dirt grass- Inferior quality marijuana
● flea powder- Low purity heroin
● flex- Fake crack (rock cocaine)
● gank- Fake crack
● kind bud- High quality marijuana
● ragweed- Inferior quality marijuana; heroin

30. Quantity:
● eight ball- 1/8 ounce of drugs
● five cent bag- $5 worth of drugs
● half elbows- 1/2 pound of methamphetamine
● henry- 1/8 of marajuana
● matchbox- 1/4 ounce of marijuana or 6 marijuana
cigarettes
● sandwich bag- $40 bag of marijuana
● quarter bag- $25 worth of drugs

31. Physical or mental disturbance caused by the heavy or
frequent use:
● bummer trip- Unsettling and threatening experience from PCP intoxication
● burned out- Collapse of veins from repeated injections; permanent
impairment from drug abuse
● burnout- Heavy abuser of drugs
● cocaine blues- Depression after extended cocaine use
● come home- End a "trip" from LSD
● explorers club- Group of LSD users
● getting roached- Using Rohypnol
● getting snotty- Using heroin

32. Other cases:
● artillery- Equipment for injecting drugs
● backtrack- Allow blood to flow back into a needle during injection
● channel- Vein into which a drug is injected
● channel swimmer- One who injects heroin
● cooker- To inject a drug; person who manufactures methamphetamine
● eggs- Heroin in rock form
● emergency gun- Instrument used to inject other than a syringe
● get down- To inject a drug
● batted out- Apprehended by law
● gutter- Vein into which a drug is injected
● interplanetary mission- Travel from one crackhouse to another to search
for crack

33. ● loused- Covered by sores and abscesses from repeated use of unsterile
needles
● on ice- In jail
● score - to purchase drugs
● sextasy- Ecstasy used with Viagra
● shot to the curb- A person who has lost it all to crack
● slanging- Selling drugs
● tracks- Row of needle marks on a person

34. Conclusion
Despite the idea of arbitrariness and mismatch that many drug slang may
present in terms of semantic relations, some regularity and productive rules can
still be identified. In the course of production and assimilation, new conceptions
can be added to a previous one. However, semantic relations in such a
contextualized environment must not only be recognizable by the group, but
coherent to a series of correspondences that have been accepted as important
to maintain the flow of communication. It does not imply that the perception of
reality must necessarily be changed when the social interactions occur in those
specific contexts. The adoption of codes in communication, different situations
imposed by reality and unusual aspects of social interaction function as
imperatives that lead this specific group of speakers to constantly recreate new
semantic relations.