“Jive talk” is used more in connection with marijuana than with junk. In the past few years, however, the use of junk has spread into “hip,” or “jive talking” circles, and junk lingo has, to some extent, merged with “jive talk.” For example, “Are you anywhere?” can mean “Do you have any junk or weed on your person?” Jive talk always refers to more than one level of fact. “Are you anywhere?” can also refer to your psychic condition: “Are you holding psychically?”
Are you anywhere? Are you holding? Do you have any junk or weed on you?
Beat To take someone’s money. For example, addict A says he will buy junk for addict B but keeps the money instead. Addict A has “beat” addict B for the money.
Benny Benzedrine. It can also mean overcoat.
Bring down, Drag The opposite of high. Depressing.
Brown Stuff, or Mud Opium.
Burn Down To overdo or run into the ground. Certain restaurants are used so much by junkies as meeting-places that the restaurant gets known to the police. Then the restaurant is “burned down.”
Burning Down Habit, an Oil Burner Habit A heavy habit.
C, Coke, Charge, Charly Cocaine.
Caps Capsules of heroin.
Cat A man.
Chick A woman.
Chucks Excessive hunger, often for sweets. This comes on an addict when he has kicked his habit far enough so that he starts to eat. When an addict is cut off the junk, he can’t eat for several days. I have seen addicts who did not eat for a month. Then he gets the “chucks” and eats everything in sight.
Clean A user is clean if he does not have any junk on his person or premises in the event of a search by the law.
Cold Turkey To quit using suddenly and completely with no gradual reduction of the dose. Almost always involuntary.
Collar Strip of paper wrapped around a dropper to make a tight fit with a needle.
Come on The way someone acts, his general manner and way of approaching others.
Come up A lush waking up while he is being robbed.
Cook To dissolve junk in water heated in a spoon or other container.
Cop To pass a cap of junk to someone; to hold out a hand for a cap.
Copper Jitters Exaggerated fear of cops. When you have the Copper Jitters, everybody looks like a cop.
Croaker A doctor.
Dig To size up, to understand, to like, or enjoy.
Fey White.
Five-Twenty-Nine Five months and twenty-nine days. This is the term in the workhouse that a lush-worker receives for “jostling.” If a detective sees a lush-worker approach or touch a lush, he places a “jostling” charge.
Flop Drunk passed out on a subway station bench.
G One grain. Morphine is the standard for junk measurement. One-half grain of morphine is one “fix.” A capsule of heroin should contain at least the equivalent of ½ grain of morphine. Heroin is seven times as strong as morphine.
Gold Money.
H, Horse, Henry Heroin.
Habit A junk habit. It takes at least a month of daily use to get a needle habit, two months for a smoking habit, four months for an eating habit.
Heat, Fuzz Law, cops, the police.
Heavy Junk, as opposed to marijuana.
Hep or Hip Someone who knows the score. Someone who understands “jive talk.” Someone who is “with it.” The expression is not subject to definition because, if you don’t “dig” what it means, no one can ever tell you.
High Feeling good, in a state of euphoria. You can be “high” on benny, weed, lush, nutmeg, ammonia (The Scrubwoman’s Kick). You can be high without any chemical boot, just feeling good.
Hog Anyone who uses more junk than you do. To use over five grains per day puts a user in the hog class.
Hook Lush-workers usually work in pairs. One lush-worker covers his partner with a newspaper, while the other goes through the lush’s pockets. The one who covers the other is the “hook.”
Hooked To get a habit.
Hot, Uncool Somebody liable to attract attention from the law. A place watched by the law.
Hot Shot Poison, usually strychnine, passed to an addict as junk. The peddler sometimes slips a hot shot to an addict because the addict is giving information to the law.
The Hype, The Bill A short-change racket.
John Someone who keeps a woman and spends money on her.
Joy Bang An occasional shot by someone who does not have a habit.
Kick A word with several meanings. It can mean the effect of a drug or a mood brought on by some place, or person. “This bar gives me bad kicks.” “This bar depresses me.” You can also be on “good kicks.” A kick is also a special way of looking at things so that the man who is “on kicks” sees things from a special angle.
Kick a Habit To quit using junk and get over a habit.
Lay on Give.
Loaded, On the Nod Full of junk.
Lush-worker A thief who specializes in robbing drunks on the subway.
M, M.S. Morphine. M.S. stands for Morphine Sulphate, which is the morphine salt most commonly used in the U.S.
Main Line Vein, a vein injection.
Making Cars Breaking into parked cars and stealing the contents.
Mark Someone easy to rob, like a drunk with a roll of money.
Meet An appointment, usually between peddler and customer.
Nembies, Goof Balls, Yellow Jackets Nembutal capsules. Nembutal is a barbiturate used by junkies “to take the edge off” when they can’t get junk.
P.G. Paregoric. A weak, camphorated tincture of opium, two grains to the ounce. Two ounces will fix a sick addict. It can be bought without prescription in some states. P.G. can be injected intravenously after burning out the alcohol and straining out the camphor.
The People Narcotics agents. A New Orleans expression.
Pickup To use. Generally refers to weed. But you can “pickup” on nembies, lush, or junk.
Piece Gun.
Pigeon, Fink, Rat Informer.
Plant, Stash To hide something, usually junk, or an “outfit.”
Poke Wallet.
Pop, Bang, Shot, Fix Injection of junk.
Pop Corn Someone with a legitimate job, as opposed to a “hustler” or thief.
Pusher, Peddler, “The Man” Junk seller. “The Man” is another New Orleans expression, and can also refer to a Narcotics Agent.
Put Down a Hype or Routine To give someone a story, to persuade, or con someone.
Put Your Hand Out To go through a lush’s pockets.
Score To buy junk or marijuana.
Serve, Take Care Of To sell junk to a user.
Shake, Rumble Search by the law.
Skin Skin injection.
Sick, Gaping, Yenning Sickness caused by lack of junk.
Smash Change, money, coins.
Square The opposite of hip. Someone who does not understand the jive.
Spade A Negro.
Speed Ball Cocaine mixed with morphine or heroin.
Spike Needle.
Stuff, Junk General terms for opium and all derivatives of opium: morphine, heroin, Dilaudid, pantopon, codeine, dionine.
Take a Fall To get arrested.
Tea head, Head, Viper User of marijuana.
Tie-up Tie, or handkerchief, used as a tourniquet for a vein shot.
User, Hyp, Junkie, Junker, Shmecker Junk addict.
Weed, Tea, Gage, Grass, Greefa, Muggles, Pot, Hash Marijuana, hashish.
White stuff Morphine, or heroin, as opposed to “brown stuff.”
Working the Hole Lush-working.
Works, Outfit, Joint A user’s outfit for injecting junk. Consists of an eyedropper, hypodermic needle, strip of paper to fit the dropper tight into the needle, and a spoon or other container in which to dissolve the junk.
Write To write a narcotic prescription. To “make a Croaker for a Script” means to persuade a doctor to write a prescription for junk.
Wrong Term used to describe an informer.
Yen Pox Ash of opium after the opium has been smoked. Yen Pox contains about the same morphine content as opium before smoking. It can be eaten with hot coffee, or dissolved in water and injected intravenously.
It should be understood that the meanings of these words are subject to rapid changes, and that a word that has one hip meaning one year may have another the next. The hip sensibility mutates. For example, “Fey” means not only white, but fated or demoniac. Not only do the words change meanings but meanings vary locally at the same time. A final glossary, therefore, cannot be made of words whose intentions are fugitive.