The stink/The stank

[Mullins, Bill]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 3:59 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: The stink/The stank
>

> Back in the '60's in LA, amongst the colored, at least,
> "bogart" - very often also overcorrected to "BO god" by young
> peppers who didn't remember Humphey Bogart - had the same
> meaning as "gorilla," which meant, "force one to unball one's
> fists." that is, being bad enough to cause an opponent, by
> sheer force of personality, to abandon his opposition,
> without the necessity of actually having to kick said
> opponent's ass. WRT "bogarting" a joint, I interpreted that
> to mean that the alpha toker had the habit of forcing his
> fellows to ask/beg him for a hit, as a means of underlining
> his status as "the man."
>

Thanks for the background -- that's the only reasonable explanation
I've ever heard for the term.  In the experience of my friends,
those who bogarted weren't trying to assert their "alpha toker"
status, they were just stoned and forgot to pass it on.