[Ads-l] Antedating of "Scag" (Heroin)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Excellent work, Fred and Ben. Here is a slight antedating. The
original text has an incorrect apostrophe after the word "youth".

Date: January 20, 1964
Newspaper: The Daily Record of Long Branch
Newspaper Location: Long Branch, New Jersey
Article: Two City Youths Jailed On Illegal Drug Charge
Quote Page 4, Column 5
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-record-scag/185409947/

[Begin excerpt]
Detective Frank Lacitra, of the State Police narcotics squad, who was
called to interrogate the youths' testified that Marks had told him he
"had been on the stuff a year, and was using a bag a day. He was on
scag, a term for heroin."
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 3:27 PM Ben Zimmer
<00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 7:02 AM Shapiro, Fred <
> 00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > scag (OED, 2., 1967)
> >
> > 1965 Newport (R.I.) Daily News 3 July 1/8 (Newspapers.com)
> >
> > Archie Shepp ... definitely had something to say, so strongly that he
> > could not leave it all to the music, in "Scag" erupted into words with
> > verses about the effect of heroin on the downcast and dejected.
> >
>
> This is about Archie Shepp's performance of "Scag" at the Newport Jazz
> Festival on July 2, 1965, which was recorded for the album _New Thing at
> Newport_ with John Coltrane (released Feb. 1966). The liner notes for the
> album explain: "'Scag,' Shepp observes, 'is a colloquialism for heroin.'
> The mood is bleak and mesmeric. As you can hear Shepp say, 'Where tracks
> is, the money ain't.'" Shepp's spoken-word poetry ends with the line, "Scag
> ain't dope, it's death."
>
> https://www.discogs.com/release/873311-John-Coltrane-Archie-Shepp-New-Thing-At-Newport
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Ho1xme008
>
> --bgz
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org