"roach" = 'joint' butt--anything before 1938?

Sam Clements sclements at NEO.RR.COM
Sun Nov 16 21:23:58 UTC 2003


The term 'roach' is cited first in the US from a New Yorker story in 1938.
The writer visited a marijuana party in Harlem and came away with some
slang.  The OED cites from the New Yorker story--"A pinched-off smoke, or
stub, is a roach."

Any earlier use of the word?  I checked the archives and other on-line
sources.  Found nothing.

Jesse?  Anyone? Is there an earlier cite?

And  what I, and the readers at the Straight Dope,  want to know--what's the
derivation of the word?  Any thoughts?  Doug?  Is it too simplistic to think
that the item in question looked like the bug?

SC



More information about the Ads-l mailing list