O
n.— «He said some of the arrested youths claimed they didn’t know they were smoking heroin when they first started using. They claimed to have been misled by street-slang or myths spread by drug dealers. “Dealers refer to it as ‘O,’” Cloward said. “And some kids were being told it was a natural herb because it’s derived from the opium plant. By the time they started using it, it was too late.”» —“Sting traps suspected heroin buyers” by Julissa McKinnon Modesto Bee (California) Aug. 24, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...