# What do you call marijuana? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 30, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865 "2020-11-30T23:26:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/1 "2020-11-30T23:26:30Z")
My son (jokingly) chastises me for calling it “pot”. He says that’s a Boomer word. He generally calls it “weed”. Is it true that “pot” is a dated word? “Weed” was certainly in use when I was young (1960s-70s), but I tend to associate it more with the stoner culture. That is, people whose lives basically revolved around getting high called it “weed”. The more common term was “pot”. “Cannabis” was just the scientific name, no one used it in everyday life as is done today. I’m not sure when “herb” appeared; I don’t think it was common back then. Calling it “marijuana” would make people suspect you were a narc. (Or at least that’s how I remember it, but you know what that stuff does to your memory.) ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/2 "2020-11-30T23:30:55Z")
Me? I call it “mara - ju - ana”, with the J sound. But, I also say “la - sag - na”, “ka-niffy” (for knife). ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/3 "2020-11-30T23:33:34Z")
I’m in my late 30’s, and while I have never partook the good herb myself (well, there was that one time in 5th grade… long story), I know a lot of people who enjoy their smoke. I live in Oregon, so the number of people who do so openly seems to be larger then when I was in Montana. Anyway, I call it herb, mostly jokingly. Everyone I know that actually smokes it – everyone, not most, but everyone I know – calls it weed. I once called it dope, and my friend who smokes daily jumped my shit, Apparently “dope” means methamphetamine, not marijuana. Live and learn, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/4 "2020-11-30T23:34:03Z")
Pot, Mary Jane, Weed, Cheese. Probably some others, but I haven’t been around any of it for about 25 years and rarely for longer yet. Soon NJ will join the ranks of legal states. I will probably try some again at that point. > [@Lancia](#): > > Anyway, I call it herb You remind me, we also used Herb or Pipeweed. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/5 "2020-11-30T23:36:03Z")
Coincidentally, I watched _[The Gentlemen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiocSoWDxyA)_ yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/6 "2020-11-30T23:36:43Z")
We call it “Boo” which I think goes back to 50’s beatniks. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/7 "2020-11-30T23:37:10Z")
Slang wise, I call it pot or weed. If I am trying to not sound stupid, I’ll call it cannabis. I remember hearing that calling it marijuana was to get people to equate the drug with hispanics. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/8 "2020-11-30T23:37:19Z")
In high school (early 1970s) I called it “pot.” But when I was in college, we usually called it “dope.” Or talked about it in terms of the delivery system: hey man, I just smoked half a joint. I’ve had so little occasion to talk about marijuana since then, I’m not really sure what I’d call it. “Weed,” probably, since that’s the term I usually hear on TV or from kids. Even though “dope” was definitely the term we favored during my college days, it has always seemed oddly non-specific to me. In my relatively tame crowd, we were always referring to cannabis if we talked about “dope,” but I wouldn’t be especially confused if someone clearly meant heroin or quaaludes by the term. (ETA: or meth, apparently, according to @Lancia’s post.) ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/9 "2020-11-30T23:37:21Z")
I don’t call it anything, having never encountered it to my knowledge. I expect I’d stick with ‘marijuana’ - all the other terms sound to me like lingo from cultures I’m not part of and, therefore, may have connotations that I’m not aware of. ---
**Author:** ![MrMrmrmr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrmrmrmr/32/5828_2.png) [@MrMrmrmr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMrmrmr)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/10 "2020-11-30T23:52:31Z")
On the phone talking to a friend with parents nearby, we would say ”meet you at Herbies’ house”. That was code for meeting at the lakefront to “burn one”. Oz was a ounce bag. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/11 "2020-11-30T23:57:39Z")
Weed \> pot \> marijuana \> cannabis \> gear ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/12 "2020-12-01T00:01:11Z")
> [@MrMrmrmr](#): > > ”meet you at Herbies’ house” Meet you in Hooterville. Meet you in Tokyo. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/13 "2020-12-01T00:05:10Z")
Weed, and sometimes pot. Right now I call it that “f —ing shit you’re smoking that’s stinking up my f—ing apartment” to my neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/14 "2020-12-01T00:06:44Z")
Weed, generally, but it can vary depending on its form and quality, e.g., buds, shake and shit weed. On rare occasions, I have heard some refer to “damnable wog hemp.” [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FE2zTnOJ94I/hqdefault.jpg "The Magic Christian (1969) - Ringo Starr, Peter Sellers") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE2zTnOJ94I) ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/15 "2020-12-01T00:10:43Z")
“Kind bud.” But I was around snobs, often yammering on about _Indica_ vs _Sativa_, and this hydro strain vs that strain. Sat back, sipped some Willi Schaefer (can’t do umlauts on this) Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett and tried to learn something. To each, their desired aesthetic enjoyment. ---
**Author:** ![Acierocolotl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acierocolotl/32/6241_2.png) [@Acierocolotl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acierocolotl)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/16 "2020-12-01T00:12:56Z")
“Fermented dogshit”. There’s a smell of spring in my neighbourhood. It’s the smell of lazy neighbours who, throughout the winter, let their dogs drop deuces in the snow and don’t pick it up. The shiftier neighbours will kick a little snow over the turds to hide them from casual inspection. Hidden away, the deuces slowly ferment all winter. Come spring, it’s all thawed out and the field smells of nothing but months-old slow-fermented dogshit. There’s a smell to certain strains of That Stuff that, to my nose, smells very similar to the smell of that field in the spring. Thus, fermented dogshit. I don’t begrudge people their smoke, but I long for some kind of cyberpunk-esque sensory-exchange program so they can appreciate how powerfully noxious it smells to me. My wife calls it “skunk weed” though sometimes in a wistful way, especially in reference to the cheaper strains of recreational foliage. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/17 "2020-12-01T00:14:37Z")
> [@Acierocolotl](#): > > There’s a smell of spring in my neighbourhood. That reminds me, “grass” was another name for it that we used sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/18 "2020-12-01T00:19:04Z")
A good topic for a poll. I’ 59 and I call it pot. My kids call it weed. Definitely an age thing. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/19 "2020-12-01T00:24:03Z")
Weed. That’s generally the term I use, although **Author\_Balk** could be my twin “mara-ja-wana” is right up there. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865/20 "2020-12-01T00:30:37Z")
Weed–as in _“A friend with weed is a friend indeed.”_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-marijuana/926865.md?page=2)