Heds Up: This headline writer was smokin'

[William Salmon]

Quoting Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Heds Up: This headline writer was smokin'
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>
> At 11:51 AM -0700 5/2/07, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>> On May 2, 2007, at 11:41 AM, Doug Harris wrote:
>>
>>> ... "Murdoch Has Jones for Dow, But Controlling Family Plans Veto
>>> (E&P)"
>>>
>>> Jones, according to the website www.yaelf.com/slang.shtml, (under
>>> 'The Great Jones', refers to "an addiction to drugs."
>>> Is there another meaning?
>>
>> yes.  in "have a jones for" it means 'hankering, desire, lust'.
>>
>> arnold
>>
> and "jones(ing) for" as well--not necessarily drugs.  There's the
> famous "basketball jones" for one.  Even "hooked on", which clearly
> began in drug contexts, has generalized to other objects, so why
> wouldn't the more innocent "jones", especially since the latter
> doesn't wear its etymology on its sleeve?  The first page of the 787
> google hits for "have a jones for" allow for objects ranging from to
> eletronica to romance to baked ziti to chocolate to [Bridget] Jones
> herself; nary an illegal (as opposed to immoral or fattening) object
> in sight.

On the other hand, the idiom "keeping up with the Jones", in addition to
its primary meaning of neighborly envy or competition, can also refer to
maintaining sobriety, or resisting "the jones".

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