Antedating of Speed (=Methamphetamine)

Sun Apr 14 19:28:41 UTC 2013

The article I cited is an AP article that was published with various
alterations in different newspapers. It might contain other
antedatings of drug-related terms. In some versions of the article
some terms have been edited out.

> Here is "speed" a bit earlier.
>
> [ref] 1966 June 5, Cleveland Plain Dealer, "LSD, Marijuana Are 'Hip'
> at Colleges" by Bernard Gavzer, Page 23-A, Column 2, Cleveland, Ohio.
> (GenealogyBank) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> The source of amphetamines ("speed" is the current hippie term) and
> barbiturates could be just about any friendly medicine cabinet.
> [End excerpt]
>
> On Sun, Apr 14, 2013 at 1:42 PM, Ben Zimmer
> <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Antedating of Speed (=Methamphetamine)
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 14, 2013 at 12:10 PM, Baker, John wrote:
>>>
>>> The OED's earliest example of "speed" to mean an amphetamine drug, especially
>>> methamphetamine, is from the Avatar (Boston), September 1967.  It was used
>>> earlier in Nicholas von Hoffman, The 'Golden Dream' May Be Little More Than
>>> a Nightmare, Washington Post, Aug. 21, 1966, at E5, col. 1:
>>>
>>> <<It [sc. methedrine] is a powerful drug, an amphetamine, that starves the
>>> brain of oxygen and sends the soul scudding before misty winds.  They call
>>> it "Speed, "Battery Acid," "Fast Freak.">>
>> [...]
>>> It may be that the OED knows about this use of "speed" already, since its
>>> "meth" article cites to another article by von Hoffman in the Post from the
>>> same day.
>>
>> I found the "meth" cite in 2004, but didn't catch the "speed" usage.
>>
>> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0412C&L=ADS-L&P=R9242&I=-3
>>
>> --bgz
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ben Zimmer
>> http://benzimmer.com/
>>
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>
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