grette = 'cigarette'

[Jonathan Lighter]

HDAS has only two cites (1968 and 1969), both from obscure collegiate
sources.

Except in later slang dictionaries, I can't say I've come across it since.
While working on HDAS, I spent virtually every waking minute alert for slang
surprises, so that means no additional independently documented "grettes" in
my awareness over the following forty years.  The term I heard now and again
on campus was "rette," not "grette."

I was considerably surprised on Saturday to hear a local liquor store
employee, about 25 years old, describe a YouTube video (I think) on which a
guy "who was already hammered" breaks into a liquor store, sets off the
alarm, gets stuck in something, then lights a cigarette while waiting calmly
for the cops to come.

The speaker characterized the felon's thoughts as, "Might as well have a
grette before I go to jail."

Another excellent ex. of a perfectly innocent term that's existed beneath
the print radar for decades.

JL


--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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