Query: "like the nitrous"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Nov 17, 2007 10:17 PM,  <RonButters at aol.com> wrote:
> 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").

I would assume "the nitrous" here is the recreational-drug version
nitrous oxide, often obtained from whipped cream containers (aka
"whippits" / "whip-its" / "whippets").  Exx of "the nitrous" in this
context:

---
http://www.justsayn2o.com/nitrous.obtain.html
Whipped cream charging bottles also dispense the nitrous from whippits.
---
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=2970
I hold the nitrous in as long as it's comfortable, but breathe air
when I feel the need.
---
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whippit&defid=2570961
Apparently he put a plastic bag of the nitrous over his head.
---

So, the similative usage "like the nitrous" presumably refers to the
sense of euphoria caused by the drug -- Google was creating intense
euphoria among the hopeful business owners.


--Ben Zimmer

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