The Cool School (34 page)

Freak scene:
Swinging, but not monogamously.

Freaky:
Strange, odd, funny.

Full, full-out:
Complete, or utter. “It was a full shuck,” “She’s a full-out freak.”

Funky:
Earthy, down home. When pronounced “Fonky” it means very earthy, very down home.

Fuzz:
The police. Originally a pickpockets’ term, stemming from the fact that police had nothing in their pockets but fuzz.

Gas:
Superlative. “It was a gas, I mean it was a wig.”

Geets:
Home-made telephone slugs.

Get in the wind:
To leave, cut out.

Good people:
A good person. “I dig Charley, man, he’s good people.”

Grease:
Money. Also means to eat, or food.

Groove behind, to:
To like or enjoy. “I groove behind raspberry sherbet.”

Groovy:
Coming back into use as a complimentary adjective. “She’s a groovy chick.”

Hangup:
A fascinating object or concept. Also, a psychological block or personality quirk.

Head:
Originally, a marijuana smoker, or “tea head.” Now very similar in meaning to “freak.” A greedy person is a “greed head.”

Heat:
Police.

High:
Intoxicated by narcotics, marijuana, stimulants, depressants, what you will. “Shoe polish is a nutty high.”

Hincty:
Paranoid, overly nervous about the police. “You bring me down when you go into your hincty bag.”

Hip:
To know, to be aware.

Hipster:
A fully paid-up member of Hip society.

Hippy:
A junior member of Hip society, who may know the words, but hasn’t fully assimilated the proper attitude.

Hippie-dip:
Derogatory term for hippy.

Holding:
To have on one’s person whatever is needed, usually drugs or money.

Hooked:
Addicted.

Hook:
A mania. A Satyr may be said to have a “terrible chick hook.”

Horn:
The telephone. “Get on the horn, call me up.”

Hung up:
Neurotic. Also, to be in a position in which one is robbed of choice, frustrated. Also, fascinated.

Hustle:
To work in a field other than your own. “Are you gigging steady?” “No man, I’m hustling.” Scuffling.

Hustler:
A survival artist, usually with no visible source of income, often engaged in small-time illegal activity.

In Front:
Before. In advance. “I want the bread in front.”

Into something:
Someone who is putting good creative ideas into his work may be said to be “into something.” A high compliment.

Jim:
An uncomplimentary form of address. A one word putdown. “Cool yourself, Jim.”

Jive:
A fearsome insult. Originally in three words. Now, the second two words are usually left unspoken. “You jive . . .” “I can’t stand all them jive people.”

Joint:
Marijuana cigarette.

Juice:
Liquor.

Juice-head:
A habitual drunk, a lush.

Juiced:
Drunk.

Junkie:
A narcotics addict.

Later:
Goodbye. Also, a derogatory term similar to “Forget it.” “Later for that, man.”

Lay on:
To give. “Lay a deuce on me ’til Tuesday.” Lend me two dollars.

Like:
A form of verbal punctuation. The extensive use of this word would seem to indicate that the hipster is unconsciously aware of the fact that he can never communicate exactly what he wants to say, and that what he is saying is at best an approximation of what he intends to communicate.

Loose wig:
To be free to “swing” creatively is to have a loose wig.

Make:
To take. “I make mescaline about twice a year.”

Make, to:
“I made him for fuse by the way he came on.” I guessed that he was probably a police officer because of the way he behaved.

Make it, to:
To be good. “Trane really makes it, man.”

Make it with, to:
To have an affair with someone is to “make it” with him or her. “I’m making it with Jenny now. Man, she really makes it!”

Man:
A neutral form of address for either sex.

Man, the:
The police. Also, the connection.

Mother:
Friendly form of address. “There you go, mother.”

Nod:
A brief nap. “It’s uncool to nod on the street corner waiting for the light to change.”

Nutty:
Nice, good, attractive. Also, a phrase of agreement, or assent.

Ofay:
Negro term for white person. Pig Latin for “foe.”

Old lady:
Lover or wife.

Old Man:
Lover or husband. This is a significant attitude, drawing as little distinction as possible between lover and marital partner.

Off, to:
To steal. “Dig the chandelier? I offed it from a church.”

Off the wall:
Weird, unlikely, far out.

Out:
Similar to, but more complimentary than “far out”—“They’re a nutty group, man, they blow some out sounds.”

Pad:
A Hip home or apartment.

Pick up on, to:
To pay attention to, to listen to. “Let’s go pick up on some sounds.” Also, to take, or “make.” “I been clean for a month, I would dig to pick up on some pot.” To discover. “Ever since Roge picked up on Islam he’s been a different cat.”

Pin:
To examine with full attention. “I tight pinned him, and I make him a full-out fraud.”

Pinned:
Pupils dilated. “Am I pinned?”

Popped:
Arrested, “busted.”

Pot:
Marijuana.

Pound, a:
Five dollars.

Put down:
To reject, to denigrate. Also, an insult. “What a terrible put-down!”

Put on:
A favourite sport of the Hipster, occasionally vicious. A variety of practical joke in which the victim is not aware that he is being “had.” See also, Riff.

Reefer:
Once meant marijuana cigarette, now refers to a quantity of marijuana. The difference in this case between hip and non-hip depends on the article. It is un-hip to ask for “a reefer,” but “Have you got any reefer?” is acceptable. Under certain circumstances, of course.

Riff:
Originally, an improvised instrumental solo. Now, a conversational solo. “Harold blew a nutty riff about the alligators in the New
York subways.” A “riff” can be used in a “put on.” “Man, I never know whether you’re coming on straight, or just riffing at me.”

Roach:
The unsmoked remains of a “joint.”

Salty:
Angry.

Salty, to jump:
To “come on” in an angry way.

Scarf:
To eat.

Scoff:
To eat. “Scarf” and “scoff” are also used as nouns. “Let’s pick up some scarf.”

Score:
To make a successful deal with the connection. Also, to succeed with a girl.

Scuffle:
To hustle.

Shades:
Sun glasses.

Shaking:
Happening. “What’s shaking?”

Short:
Car.

Short line:
Very little money. “I’m hung up behind very short line.” “It’s a fun gig, but short line.” —It’s a good job, but the pay is small.

Shuck:
A con, fraud, or put on.

Scam:
A practical improvisation. “How are we going to decorate this coffee house on forty-three bucks?” “Take it off your wig, we’ll scam it.” Don’t worry about it, we’ll scuffle something together. Also, a synonym for shuck. A fraud may be called a “full scam.”

Scene:
Where the happenings happen. “When I came back in from the coast, all my buddies had split the scene.” Also, a party. “Call up some people. We’ll make a scene.”

Sides:
Records.

Slam:
Jail. Or, “the slammer.”

Something else:
Something very good indeed.

Sound:
To ask. “I sounded him about a gig, but nothing’s happening.”—I asked him about a job, but there were no openings.

Sounds:
Music. “Have you got any sounds at your pad?” Do you have a radio or a phonograph?

Split:
To leave.

Square:
Conventional, unimaginative. A Babbitt.

Straight:
High, or stoned. “Fall by and I’ll straighten your head for
you.” Also, not high, not stoned—down. To “get straight” means to get whatever you need. “Need any bread?” “No, baby, I’m straight.” To “straighten” someone means to give him the correct information, what he needs or to give him

Straights:
Civilian cigarettes.

Stone:
Complete, as in “full.” “She’s a stone freak.” “He’s a stone pro.”

Stoned:
Very high.

Stash:
A secret hiding place for illicit goods. Often elaborate or imaginative.

Strung out:
Far gone, physically or mentally. When one’s source of supply is cut off, one is “strung out.”

Stud:
A male.

Swing, to:
To be happy or successful or both. To enjoy oneself. To “groove.”

Taking care of business:
Attending to the annoying but essential practical details of existence without losing one’s ability to “swing.” The phrase, “He takes care of business” often has the ring of admiration.

Taste:
A sample.

Tapped:
Arrested.

There you go:
A greeting, “Hello.”

Tight:
On close, friendly terms. “I’m tight with him.” He’s a good friend of mine.

Tossed:
Searched by the police. “The man tossed my short and they found a roach. That’s how I got tapped.”

Tough:
Very good.

Tough changes:
Hard times.

Tube, the:
Television.

Turn on:
To get high. Also, to become interested in something. “I got turned on to Stendahl in high school, and I dig him out, man, he’s too much.”

Twisted:
High. “Straight.”

Uncool:
Dangerously uncautious.

Up tight:
In a difficult position.

Viper:
Marijuana smoker.

Wasted:
Very high. Also, to inflict physical damage on someone is to “waste” him. “He got into his violent bag, you dig it? so I told him ‘Don’t come on with me, Jim, I’ll do up your head’ so he did anyway, so I wasted him.”

What’s shaking?:
What’s happening?

Wheels:
Car.

Wig:
Mind. “You can’t stop his wig, man, he’s got ideas!”

Wig, to:
To flip happily. “I told him the good news, and he wigged out.”

Zonked:
Very high, stoned, twisted, wasted, turned around, smashed, boxed.

How to Speak Hip
, 1961

Lenny Bruce didn’t write, he talked. At first he talked like his mother, Sally Marr, who worked as a stand-up comic and impressionist. But the more he talked the more he turned into Lenny. He worked as an emcee in strip clubs, in real dives. Biographer Albert Goldman noted that it was precisely the barrel-bottom nature of his gigs that allowed him to completely escape his inhibitions and riff where no one had riffed before. Bruce was the first free-association comic rock star, and he never met a subject he shrank from, even as his candor earned him arrests. Here he tells the terrible truth about drugs. Lenny did “Pills and Shit” almost fifty years ago. In it he predicted pot would be legal in ten years. He was off by forty years. And he was dead at forty.

O
H
! I got busted since I’ve seen you. I’m going to lay that on you first. I got two arrests. One: illegal use and possession of dangerous drugs—which is a lie. They’re
not,
they’re
friendly.

Lemme get serious with that for a moment. That’s how weird I am: I could never discuss or support anything I’m involved with.

I don’t smoke pot at all. I don’t dig the high. The reason I don’t smoke shit is that it’s a hallucinatory high, and I’ve got enough shit going around in my head; and second, it’s a
schlafedicker
high, and I like being
with
you all the time. So therefore I can talk about pot, and champion it.

Marijuana is rejected all over the world. Damned. In England heroin is alright for out-patients, but marijuana? They’ll put your ass in jail.

I wonder why that is? The only thing I can think of is De Quincy—the fact that opium is smoked and marijuana is smoked, and there
must be some correlation there. Because it’s not a deterrent. In all the codes you’ll always see, “Blah-blah-blah with all the narcotics
except
marijuana.” So the legislature
doesn’t
consider it a narcotic. Who does?

Well, first: I think that there’s no
justification
for smoking shit. Alcohol? Alcohol has a medicinal justification. You can drink rock-and-rye for a cold, pernod for getting it up when you can’t get it up, blackberry brandy for cramps, and gin for coming around if she didn’t come around.

But marijuana? The only reason could be:
To Serve The Devil
—
Pleasure!
Pleasure, which is a dirty word in a Christian’s culture. Pleasure is Satan’s word.

CONDEMNING
VOICE
: What are you doing! You’re
enjoying
yourself? Sitting on the couch smoking shit and
enjoying
yourself? When your mother has
bursitis!
And all those people in China are suffering, too!

GUILTY
VOICE
: I’m enjoying it a
little
bit, but it’s bad shit, anyway. And I got a headache and I’m eating again from it.

I
F
WE
were to give Man A three glasses of whiskey a day, and Man B were to smoke the necessary amount of marijuana to produce a euphoria like that the alcohol brings, and we do this now for ten years straight, stop them cold one day—Pow!

The guy who juiced will suffer some absence syndromes—he’ll need a taste, physically need a taste. The guy that smoked the pot will suffer no discomfort. He is not addicted. Healthwise, the guy who juiced is a little screwed up; and the pot smoker may have a little bronchitis. Maybe.