Slang for crystal meth

[Wells Darla L]

Connected (but very loosely) to your meth slang:
Graffiti seen in a stall in the women's restroom in a truck stop in Indio,
California in the 80's--"Here I sit with a broken heart, /All cranked up but
my truck won't start" and below in a different hand, "Well, if your dope was
worth a fuck,/ You'd go out and push that truck."





On Thu, 4 Aug 2005 02:03:12 -0400, Wilson Gray wrote
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Slang for crystal meth
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Aug 3, 2005, at 11:05 PM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Slang for crystal meth
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >
> > On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 22:07:47 -0400, Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Newsweek  August 8, 2005
> >> p.47
> >>
> >> "... Crank, so-nicknamed because bikers would hide meth in their
> >> motorcycles' crankcases"
> >
> > Looks like this is a popular explanation:
>
> If you mean that it strikes you as bullshit, I'm afraid that I have
> to disagree with anyone who disagrees with you. The writers of the article
> probably pulled that "etymology" out of their asses.
>
> -Wilson Gray
>
> >
> > http://www.google.com/search?q=meth+crank-cases
> >
> > This has all the hallmarks of an urban-legend/etymythology, including a
> > lack of verifiability and numerous variations on the theme. (Is the
> > crankcase a hiding place or a reaction vessel? Is it a motorcycle
> > crankcase or a truck crankcase?)
> >
> > HDAS has "crank" back to 1969, but I don't see the "crankcase"
> > derivation
> > until 1995 (S.F. Chronicle, "The Kiss of Meth", 8/27/95) -- though
> > there
> > was a 1989 DEA crackdown on San Diego meth labs known as "Operation
> > Crankcase" (could this have simply been a pun on the DEA's part?).
> >
> > I'd go with the much more mundane explanation that the drug "cranks up"
> > the user.
> >
> >
> > --Ben Zimmer
> >


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