# Why Is Crystal Meth Called Tina? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869 "2009-04-30T18:01:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Here\_Come\_Dots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cc9497/32.png) [@Here\_Come\_Dots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Here_Come_Dots)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/1 "2009-04-30T18:01:02Z")
The title pretty much says it all: why is crystal meth referred to as “tina”? ---
**Author:** ![erleichda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4da419/32.png) [@erleichda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erleichda)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/2 "2009-04-30T18:08:44Z")
I’ve never heard it called that. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/3 "2009-04-30T18:12:47Z")
I’ve never heard this either, but my WAG would be that it’s by parallel with marijuana being called “Mary Jane.” drug name -\> shortened form -\> girl’s name -\> possible shortened form marijuana -\> m. j. -\> Mary Jane crystal methamphetamine -\> crystal meth -\> Christina -\> Tina ---
**Author:** ![Here\_Come\_Dots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cc9497/32.png) [@Here\_Come\_Dots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Here_Come_Dots)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/4 "2009-04-30T18:15:42Z")
It may be limited primarily to the gay community. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/5 "2009-04-30T18:15:52Z")
[This site](http://hivstopswithus.org/en/Boston/RobN/Introducing-Tina-Turnaround) says that “Tina” is a term primarily used by gay men. EDIT: Curse my slow fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/6 "2009-04-30T18:21:01Z")
One-sixteenth of an ounce. A common amount to buy. “Teenth” became “Tina”. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/7 "2009-04-30T18:24:19Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](#): > > One-sixteenth of an ounce. A common amount to buy. “Teenth” became “Tina”. Dang. And I was so proud of my WAG. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/8 "2009-04-30T18:35:15Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Dang. And I was so proud of my WAG. We might both be right. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/9 "2009-04-30T19:14:48Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Dang. And I was so proud of my WAG. I think you might be right. “Christine” was definitely the name used for it when I was a San Francisco club kid in the 80s. I never heard this “teenth” stuff. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/10 "2009-04-30T19:18:00Z")
I once dated a Tina - doesn’t surpise me at all. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/11 "2009-04-30T20:10:33Z")
Because it makes you look like this: [Tina](http://www.monstersandcritics.com/arts/features/article_1403162.php/In_photos_The_Country_Girl_Opening_Night_on_Broadway?page=2) ---
**Author:** ![Mojo\_Pin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mojo\_Pin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo_Pin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/12 "2009-04-30T21:19:08Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Dang. And I was so proud of my WAG. Just curious, what does WAG stand for? Unless you mean you were proud of your Wives And Girlfriends… ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/13 "2009-04-30T21:29:41Z")
“Wives And Girlfriends” is not a phrase in America. I watch more British tv than anyone I know, and I had to look it up online. for some reason, the wives of pro sports players over here almost never get much attention. Is that because there are four major sports, and you only have so much time to pay attention? Anyway, around these-here parts, WAG is wild assed guess. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/14 "2009-04-30T21:35:30Z")
Isn’t Tina used for a form of meth? I’m sure which one. As a gay man I have heard meth referred to as Tina a lot, so there may be some truth to gay men using the term more than other people ---
**Author:** ![Mojo\_Pin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mojo\_Pin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo_Pin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/15 "2009-04-30T21:37:22Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > “Wives And Girlfriends” is not a phrase in America. I watch more British tv than anyone I know, and I had to look it up online. for some reason, the wives of pro sports players over here almost never get much attention. Is that because there are four major sports, and you only have so much time to pay attention? > > Anyway, around these-here parts, WAG is wild assed guess. haha thanks. Wives and Girlfriends was just the first thing that came up on google search–I just thought it sounded funny. edit: I just wanted to add that I had the same WAG as KneadtoKnow did upon reading the OP, and it seems the most likely. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/16 "2009-04-30T21:40:18Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > crystal methamphetamine -\> crystal meth -\> Christina -\> Tina That’s totally what I would have guessed too. First and last syllables, **Cryst** al methamphetam **ine** , = Christine = Tina. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_C\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mike\_C\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_C_1)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/17 "2018-03-08T21:42:08Z")
Yes…I was a teenage tweaker. It was the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when it was beginning it’s prevalence among young gay men, and even then it was being referred to as “Tina”. If you look a little further back to popular Gay icons, you don’t have to go far to run into Tina Turner. The old videos of her in her fringed mini-dresses, shaking and scooting around the stage like she was…well…on speed…explains it pretty clearly. Go to YouTube and search Tina Turner and Rolling on the River, and watch…and learn. This is where the earliest reference I know for “Tina” being used to describe Meth came from. I’m pushing 58 now, so I have a lot of experience and (thankfully) a lot of clean time to remember the way things were. There is so much from those decades that most will never know about; some amazing, some pretty awful. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/18 "2018-03-08T22:14:09Z")
Why is weed called [Keyshia](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Keyshia)? Or heroin called[da boy](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=da%20boy)? Because nicknames are hip. And numerous. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/19 "2018-03-08T22:22:57Z")
The latest term for heroin is [dog food](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=da%20boy). Why, I have no clue. But it’s the current slang. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-crystal-meth-called-tina/494869/20 "2018-03-09T12:27:57Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > The latest term for heroin is [dog food](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=da%20boy). Why, I have no clue. But it’s the current slang. H…horse…dog food? Maybe?