Nose Open and Bonnaroo

Jennifer in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, has been in recovery from substance abuse for 29 years now, and still recalls some of the slang she heard back in the days when she was using illicit drugs. Her ex-husband used to say Now you got my nose open and Don’t get my nose open, which both refer to the idea of enticing someone to do drugs. There are larger senses of this phrase, referring to being excited about something or being sexually aroused or feeling rising anger. This slang term has been around since the 1950s. Jennifer also used the term bonnaroo to mean “really good.” In the slang of San Quentin Prison in the 1930s, bonnaroo meant “a preferred job assignment” for prisoners. The Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee takes its name from the 1974 album Desitively Bonnaroo by Dr. John, who said the word came from the French-influenced slang of New Orleans, Louisiana, a combination of French bonne, “good,” and rue, “street,” meaning “best on the street,” or in other words, “really good drugs.” This is part of a complete episode.