magic mushroom (1957), etc.

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 14:02:27 -0500, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:

>* shroom(s) = psilocybin (not yet in OED)
>
>Washington Post, Dec 27, 1981, p. A1 (Nexis)
>"I'm a closet smoker--I like 'shrooms," confides a 15-year-old California
>girl whose favorite drug of choice, unbeknown to her parents, is
>hallucinogenic mushrooms, or psilocybin.
>
>(Surely there are earlier cites for this one.)


The book _Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide_ by O.T. Oss and O.N.
Oeric (1st ed. 1976), evidently a classic in the field, is searchable on
Amazon.  In the Front Matter is a drawing of a pseudo-Tarot card with the
caption "Ace of Shrooms".


-- Ben Zimmer