# Does any one ever call it a "number"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-one-ever-call-it-a-number/355331 "2006-05-04T00:54:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-one-ever-call-it-a-number/355331/1 "2006-05-04T00:54:07Z")
It was the Charlie Daniels Band, _Uneasy Rider_, when I first heard the line “Tokin’ on a number and pickin’ on the radio” After I got understood what it was talking about, it made me better understand some other songs such as \*\*Bob Seger’s \*\*, \*\*Feel Like a Number \*\*, and **Steely Dan’s** , _Rikki Don’t Lose That Number_, but outside of musical references, I have never heard anybody call it that outside of song. If you have, what era and what part of the country or the world. Sgt Schwartz ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-one-ever-call-it-a-number/355331/2 "2006-05-04T01:02:03Z")
Was a common enough term back in the early 70’s, but was only one of many such terms. I grew up in Tennessee and let’s just say I was well versed. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-one-ever-call-it-a-number/355331/3 "2006-05-04T01:02:29Z")
I’m from Oklahoma, and “number” has been a common term for a joint since at least the early 1970s. Maybe earlier. I wasn’t very aware of such slang before the early seventies. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-one-ever-call-it-a-number/355331/4 "2006-05-04T01:12:04Z")
> [@Sgt Schwartz](#): > > After I got understood what it was talking about, it made me better understand some other songs such as \*\*Bob Seger’s \*\*, \*\*Feel Like a Number \*\*, and **Steely Dan’s** , _Rikki Don’t Lose That Number_, but outside of musical references, I have never heard anybody call it that outside of song. Hard to tell exactly what some writers mean, tho. In these songs, it could be taken differently. Or perhaps even with the ever so subtle dual meaning! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-one-ever-call-it-a-number/355331/5 "2006-05-04T01:29:13Z")
Yeah. Back then it was a number, a joint, a doobie or a burrito. There was that one time at a concert that an odd-looking fellow came up and asked me “Do you know were I could get a marijuana cigarette?” I, of course, did not. I don’t feel like this was the intended meaning in the Seger and Steely Dan tunes. I think Seger was talking about losing your identity in the system (work place, Social Security, etc.) and SD I think was referring to a phone number. Of course, as always, YMMV ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-one-ever-call-it-a-number/355331/6 "2006-05-04T02:14:30Z")
Most umabiguously, Neil Young’s “Roll Another Number For The Road” was a crowd sing-along favorite at concerts. I think it’s safe to say they knew what he was singing about! mm ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-one-ever-call-it-a-number/355331/7 "2006-05-04T02:43:47Z")
Yeah, a joint was often called a number in the 1970s, at least where I spent them, in New York and Colorado.