Query: "like the nitrous"

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

The following excerpt is taken from a news story about how the opening of a
Google office in Lenoir, NC, has jump-started the local economy (in the Raleigh
News and Observer (9.21.07, p1D; also at <
2http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:GA822b6ZQHsJ:www.newsobserve...22was+like+the+nitrous%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&
gl=us&client=safari>):

Entrepreneurs have been refurbishing century-old buildings and opening
stores. Since the beginning of the year, an ice cream shop -- owned by Arnold's
children -- has opened, and a bookstore/wine cellar/coffee shop opened three weeks
ago. Other new shops cater to those who make crafts and collect antiques.

Google didn't prompt the startups, the business owners say, but it has given
them more hope for success. Google was "like the nitrous," said Ben Willis,
who owns HogWaller Outfitters and whose family helped jump-start downtown
redevelopment. "They were like getting a big hit of vitamins."

I had no idea what "like the nitrous" meant, and my slang dictionaries were
no help. Wikipedia says that "the nitrous" is a term for a NO2 additive used in
racing automobiles, which to my mind makes it a specialized kind of jargon,
but the N&O treated it like ordinary contemporary American English usage, i.e.,
they did not explain Mr. Willis's usage, or define the term.

My question is, "Is 'the nitrous' a widespread term in contemporary American
English?" And, if so, is "like the nitrous" a commonplace popular saying that
could conceivably replace (or run parallel to) "like a shot in the arm" (the
way that "that sucks" has done with the older "that stinks").



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