# What the deal with 4:20PM?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-deal-with-4-20pm/179612>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 4, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-deal-with-4-20pm/179612 "2003-06-04T15:08:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![yola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/48db29/32.png) [@yola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yola)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-deal-with-4-20pm/179612/21 "2003-06-05T07:09:45Z")

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We call 'em “Safety Meetings” !!

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**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-deal-with-4-20pm/179612/22 "2003-06-05T13:10:56Z")

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Being from Britain i’ve never heard this term before but I always seem to take my ciggarette break at 4.20. Coincidence? I think not, its obviousley the time the worlwide collective consciousness tunes in to smoke chemicals (legal or not) and to hell with datelines!

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**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-deal-with-4-20pm/179612/23 "2003-06-05T14:15:30Z")

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Slight hi(gh)jack:

Why is a bong a bong?

Here in the wonderful land of Oz they were always bongs and I  
only ever heard Americans refer to them as waterpipes or hubble  
bubble pipes.

Derivations please. I always thought it was the sound your brain  
makes after two or three lungbusting pulls. Perhaps, the one-pull-  
cone emptying brigade knows something.

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**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-deal-with-4-20pm/179612/24 "2003-06-05T22:43:02Z")

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I think “bong” was originally a brand name, back in the 1970s. I’ve seen Bong-brand waterpipes from that era, in a sort of classic bong shape. (Looked to be made out of cheap plastic, too). If I had to speculate, I’d guess that before this most waterpipes were hookah-esque.

Complete WAG, though, and no cites.

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**Author:** ![John\_Zahn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@John\_Zahn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Zahn)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-deal-with-4-20pm/179612/25 "2003-09-28T12:52:01Z")

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Your niece is correct. Also the next time you watch the movie **Pulp Fiction** see what time the clock is always set on too. Quite a few of the marijuana cites I read from, says it seems to have originated during the seventies and was the time a bunch of CA high school kids would fire up each day.

JZ

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-deal-with-4-20pm/179612/26 "2003-09-28T16:40:50Z")

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Whut?

No blackbirds reference?

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**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-deal-with-4-20pm/179612/27 "2003-10-05T03:16:15Z")

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Duckster, that was brilliant - at least to me, but I don’t indulge.

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