[Ads-l] "dope check"

Fri Jul 17 15:03:55 UTC 2026

Thanks!

The "employer scrip or emergency bank credit slip" is the sense I'm after. 

The citations are great. Though I'm still at a loss as why it is "dope."

-----Original Message-----
From: "Grant Barrett" <00001c78cf50a67a-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2026 9:56am
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "dope check"

Besides the more obvious sense of "a search or examination for the
presence or use of drugs" or "a bank check payment for drugs," some
citations suggest a dope check is any of these, depending on context:

 - a coupon for a soft drink at a soda counter
 - an employer scrip or emergency bank credit slip
 - packet of drugs
 - verification of inside information or sporting predictions

1904 June 21 (Trenton NJ) _Times_ p.9: If the fellows keep up this style of
ball Manager Richard will have to get up a system of "dope" checks. It
isn't right to charge a quarter for such a game as yesterday. The players
should be fined the amount of their salary for one game and the crowd given
"dope" checks.

1908 May 13 (Augusta GA) _Chronicle_ p. 4: Emory College, Oxford, Ga, May
12—Few and Phi Gamma Literary societies in joint session yesterday debated
the gubernatorial campaign from start to finish in an effort to find who
should be our next governor. ¶Despite the fact that only one man spoke for
Mr. Brown the decision was rendered in his favor. ¶The Hoke Smith men have
maliciously declared that the judges already in favor of Mr. Brown, and
some real vicious ones, fully acquainted with a college boy's weakness,
have declared that "dope" checks were used as a means of bribery.

1908 Sep 21 (St. Louis MO) _Post-Dispatch_ p. 10: Herewith is a clipping
taken from the Baltimore American, a Republican paper, relating to bank
guarantees. Banks guarantee the big depositors, "why not the small ones?
"It is the small one who requires absolute confidence before he leaves his
money in a bank and is also the first one to start a run. Give him a
guarantee, backed up by a stronger power than the bank itself, and there
will be no more runs, as the primary cause will be removed. Fear is the
cause of runs on banks. Fear is the cause of 50, yea, 75 millions of money
being hid in all sorts of hiding places in this broad land of ours, that
with an absolute guarantee of safety will go into the banks and through
them our circulation be increased, our land be benefited and no more use
for John Smith dope checks.

1916 Sep 8 (Marysville CA) _Evening Democrat_ p. 7: He goes to the cabaret
and enlists the help of Cleo, who finds Audrey a dope fiend, and also finds
out she is getting the dope from Max, the piano player. Fourneri, with her
help, discovers the address of the "dope" checks to be No. 16 Martin
street. The next day Cleo, dressed as a slavey, applies for work at No. 16
Martin street. She discovers the maker of the cocaine decks [sic] and
incidentally Fourneri with her help discovers the murderer he is looking
for. Needless to say, Cleo becomes Fourneri's partner, both in business and
in private life.

1916 Sep 26 (Americus GA) _Times-Recorder_ p.4: We offer a dope check to
the first person who will intelligently explain the W. & A. proposition—all
about it.

1923 April 30 (Charlotte NC) _Observer_ p. 10: The Murray Tailoring Company
is gaining customers every day. These boys in the Charlotte association
seem to have improved very much with the stick, and Harry Murray is being
sent several new customers this week. ¶The Martha Washington, run by those
two clever boys (Penry and Burton) are not being slighted [...] Gray of the
Bell Telephone, and Moore of the Southern Power are coming around this week
to collect their "dope" checks.

1929 (Detroit MI) _Free Press_ p. 4: Sheriff Ira Wilson Sunday afternoon
lay in wait for and captured a woman dope smuggler carrying narcotics to
her husband, a county jail prisoner, it was disclosed yesterday. The
prisoner is Harry Oxley, held pending trial as a federal drug law violator.
¶Jail attaches [sic] have for some time been aware that Oxley has been
receiving narcotics at regular intervals, but have been unable to detect
their carrier. Sunday, Sheriff Wilson concealed himself near Oxley's cell
and watched during Mrs. Oxley's visit. Convinced that the wife was the dope
smuggler, Sheriff Wilson called John Hastings, the turnkey, and Mrs. Oxley
was arrested. ¶Before the officers could seize her, she swallowed two of
the 14 dope "checks" she had smuggled into the jail and chewed a letter she
was carrying to her husband so badly that deputies have been unable to
learn its contents. ¶Mrs. Oxley, who gives her first name as Babe, is held
at the jail.

1930 Sep 29 (Bend OR) _Bulletin_ p. 2: [headline] Football Games Of
Week-End Give Pre-Season Dope Check [article] (United Press Staff
Correspondent) San Francisco, Sept. 29. (UP) The big football teams of the
west coast came through Saturday's and Sunday's trial encounters exactly on
schedule with one exception at Berkeley, where what looked like a sound,
well-balanced California team managed to outreserve a hard-fighting eleven
from Santa Clara, 19-7. The Broncos held the Bears to better than even
terms for three-quarters, but "Nibs" Price's substitutions kept coming in
eleven-men lots, and a fresh California team was cutting the weary Bronco
line to shreds at the close.

GB

On Jul 16, 2026 at 17:13:49, dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

>
> I'm trying to figure out what a "dope check" is. I know that it is some
> kind of scrip or coupon (and has nothing to do with drugs), but beyond that
> I have no clue. I'm pretty sure the term dates to the 1930s.
>
> Here it is in the Code of Federal Regulations:
>
> “29 CFR § 531.34 - Payment in scrip or similar medium not authorized.
>
> “Scrip, tokens, credit cards, 'dope checks,' coupons, and similar devices
> are not proper mediums of payment under the Act.”
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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

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