My name's Friday...

September 26, 2005 11:37 AM

My name's Friday... I just thought this was very amusing. "4:20," as explained by narcs.
posted by NedKoppel (55 comments total)

If you hear your teenager reference 420, see that he is using the term while instant messaging with friends or has a 420 sticker on his car or backpack, call him on it.

No female stoners were hurt in the making of this article.
posted by TheDonF at 11:42 AM on September 26, 2005

HAHAHAHA 420, DUDE! HAHAHAHA
posted by keswick at 11:46 AM on September 26, 2005

Keswick. Son. I think it's time we had a little talk.
posted by NedKoppel at 11:48 AM on September 26, 2005

420! HAHAHAHA, Oh, MAN!
posted by keswick at 11:50 AM on September 26, 2005

Ya think they would've at least given a little etymology.
posted by thejimp at 11:51 AM on September 26, 2005

Maybe parents should be watching their kids even more closely.
posted by sonofsamiam at 11:54 AM on September 26, 2005

Little slim, Ned, little slim as an FPP. But I'm sure in the, ahem, right circumstances, it probably seemed hilarious.
posted by soyjoy at 11:54 AM on September 26, 2005

NedKoppel: "I just thought this was very amusing. "4:20," as explained by narcs."

Am I missing something, or is this a perfectly fine explanation of "4:20"?

Keswick, your laughing is contagious. I'm giggling, and I don't think I want my co-workers to see why.
posted by Plutor at 11:57 AM on September 26, 2005

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posted by I Love Tacos at 11:57 AM on September 26, 2005

argh, that looked fine in live preview.
posted by I Love Tacos at 11:57 AM on September 26, 2005

sorry i was made these post because a error...

administrator!!! please hope me!
posted by I Love Tacos at 11:59 AM on September 26, 2005

Ok, I've wanted to talk about this somewhere and this seems like as good a place as any (pot thread, woo-hoo!!) Did anybody happen to catch that new Fox sitcom with Michael Rappaport last night? It was all about the parents trying to hide their pot from their kids, who were in high school and middle school. And then the younger kid who was like twelve or something bought some pot at a playground and took it to his grandmother as a "present". It was really surreal! There was a laugh track behind the whole show, so when the dad would ask the high-school aged daughter if she had been smoking pot, and the girl responded, "why, do you think I stole your stash?" the laugh track would kick in! It was super weird. I only caught bits and pieces but I've never seen something like that on TV.
posted by billysumday at 12:01 PM on September 26, 2005

< little slim, ned, little slim as an fpp. but i'm sure in the, ahem, right circumstances, it probably seemed hilarious.>>

Yeah, it's no direct link to a CNN story about a hurricane, but we do the best we can.
posted by NedKoppel at 12:02 PM on September 26, 2005

Holy crap, the number of weed names.
posted by cleverusername at 12:03 PM on September 26, 2005

Dude, I'm so high.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:06 PM on September 26, 2005

(trying to dredge a decent discussion out of a pretty crappy post). The use of 4:20 as a reference to so-called "stoner culture" is interesting only because it contains that seemingly-universal number, 42. I think Adamns was on to something. Look for its use in the popular American TV show "Lost".

(also, I overheard a bunch of freshman in high school who seemed to believe that the 420 phenomenon was individual to their high school/group of friends. I was laughing too hard to correct them.)

Also, ned, the reason this is a crappy post is because it's basically a double. We've had a million "narc's take on drug lingo" posts before.
posted by muddgirl at 12:08 PM on September 26, 2005

Those microgram's are cool. I'd be more interested in what creative smuggling methods that the DEA missed, as those are the good ones.
posted by geoff. at 12:10 PM on September 26, 2005

I clicked the panic button, and nothing at all happened.
posted by tpl1212 at 12:11 PM on September 26, 2005

Johnny Law is always on the case. Hence, no one in the know ever refers to getting high as 4:20. The new phrase is 'balloon knot'. Pass it on.
posted by haqspan at 12:13 PM on September 26, 2005

muddgirl: "Also, ned, the reason this is a crappy post is because it's basically a double. We've had a million "narc's take on drug lingo" posts before."

Please help me to understand this. I'm totally boggled. What's wrong about the definition besides it being obviously awkwardly phrased?
posted by Plutor at 12:13 PM on September 26, 2005

Dad: Son, can you tell me what that 420 sticker is on your backpack signifies?

Son: It's Hitler's Birthday

awkward silence
posted by Mr_Zero at 12:15 PM on September 26, 2005

yeah & they're funny again and again ;) that's another thing in stoner-culture; they forget they already laughed about a joke ..

Billys: this? Looks lame
btw. I'm so in trouble next time my mum shows up here

Did I already tell you that we keep on forg... O, yeah I did.
Well then, I'm off to the chillout: getting me some open sexual activity , laterz!
posted by borq at 12:19 PM on September 26, 2005

billysumday: "Ok, I've wanted to talk about this somewhere and this seems like asgood a place as any...

Heh, if you think that's funny you should catch an episode of "Weeds". It has its moments but all in all the basic premise is so convoluted that, naturally, it would be self-defeating.
posted by prostyle at 12:22 PM on September 26, 2005

set up a time for a longer conversation about your family’s no tolerance policy for drug and alcohol use.

this is assuming you had them initial reciept of the memo which outlined said policy (on file in the family HR office).

Corporate Parenting 101
posted by ElvisJesus at 12:26 PM on September 26, 2005

Yeah, but "Weeds" is on Showtime. This was on Fox at 8:30 and there was canned laughing thrown in at inappropriate times throughout the whole show!! I didn't find it funny, really, either. I found it very, very weird. It was like an art piece, like an anti-sitcom.
posted by billysumday at 12:27 PM on September 26, 2005

The fake don't do drugs commercial in Harold & Kumar is done so well it could almost be real.
posted by jeffmik at 12:35 PM on September 26, 2005

alright, enough. i'm coming down anyhow.
posted by NationalKato at 12:37 PM on September 26, 2005

I have a long standing theory on this. It has to do with people that hang out in the woods and build a fire and get stoned or feel free to be skinheads or whatever. Around the firepit in the woods by my spot, you'll see the kids like writing the graffito. And what's wierd is that an exceptional amount of the stuff that people write on trees and whatnot is neonazi type swastikas and "die [whatever]."

So my theory is that skinheads and stoners share the firepit. And one day some skinhead dude writes 4:20 on a rock, in celebration of Hitlers birthday. Later the stoners show up, and after a fatty, in that pensive time of reflection, they wonder what 420 means. Knowing that stoners frequent the smoke spot, and maybe Freddie tried to impress people by saying he knew what it meant even when it didn't, and consensus emerges - "it means getting high, dude!".

Everyone says whoa, and someone digs it, and who knows where memes go to propogate but it happens and QED.
posted by 31d1 at 12:39 PM on September 26, 2005

*it made more sense when i was high*
posted by 31d1 at 12:40 PM on September 26, 2005

Billysumday, I saw the same thing. (I was looking for the Simpsons, I swear!) It was weird and creepy. It was the opposite of those overdone 'All drugs are bad! Stay away at all costs' sitcom plotlines, but almost in an equally horrific way. I think I was most creeped out about how everyone lied to and stole from everyone else, but with a laugh track.
posted by Alison at 12:44 PM on September 26, 2005

I'm about to read the thread, but I immediately need to add my 2 €:

...set up a time for a longer conversation about your family’s no tolerance policy for drug and alcohol use

I would say that the fact you have nailed your kid as a doper does not mean that your family can't be pro-drug. The youth of the world need to be encouraged to explore alternate states of being... for God's sake, think of the children!
posted by Meatbomb at 12:44 PM on September 26, 2005

I love lists of paraphenalia, they're so utterly useless. The one borq linked to includes mints, scratched jewel boxes, playing cards, fruit drinks and pens.
posted by I Love Tacos at 12:45 PM on September 26, 2005

From the small note in the FPP: " set up a time for a longer conversation about your family’s no tolerance policy for drug and alcohol use."

Now, here in my family we have no "no tolerance policy" in place to have a longer conversation about. Actually we have a "no no tolerance" policy, under which any behavior may come into rational discussion. But if there is something we would really not tolerate, it would be hypocrisy and lies - so we can't really institute a blank no tolerance policy against alcohol when both me and my wife drink beer and wine regularly at dinner (and also at lunch during weekends). One of the most disgusting things I see around are parents of my generation who deny they ever used drugs to their children in a misguided attempt to keep some moral ascendence (and I am talking about people I saw under the influence of things you can't even imagine).

I believe that raising children/teenagers in a complex environment requires keeping all doors open to discussion - the "no tolerance" way is a sure way to shut the doors when your children need then open most. The usual consequence is that they will shut you out of their lifes very quick. But then again, I also happen to believe the right way to raise a child is to strive for informed independent behavior every time, everywhere - let them make their own mistakes, Fate knows I am still making mine.
posted by nkyad at 12:50 PM on September 26, 2005

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posted by wakko at 12:56 PM on September 26, 2005

so then why does Daddy drink weed?

[Sweetwater420, by the way, is a delicious extra pale ale.]
posted by NationalKato at 1:04 PM on September 26, 2005

or maybe that '420' sticker means your child is going to school angry.
posted by NationalKato at 1:15 PM on September 26, 2005

NationalKato: I'll wait for Bongwater420, thanks.
posted by bashos_frog at 1:20 PM on September 26, 2005

geoff. - "Those microgram's are cool."

They sure are.

...

Oh, you meant the journal.
posted by daksya at 1:39 PM on September 26, 2005

Knowing slang may help DEA folks follow what's going on, but there's an anecdote I recall from some book:

re: 'clockin'

This dealer says, "When a guy says to you, Are you clockin, you know he's a cop, because why would he ask you unless he already knew you were?"

Knowing the slang doesn't seem to help that much.

If you're hip, you're hip, and if you're not, I don't think you can really penetrate the boundary. Did you take care of the thing? That thing with... No, no the other thing. Language can get pretty oblique when it wants.
posted by sonofsamiam at 1:42 PM on September 26, 2005

whoo-hoo! Wanna go hit up a balloon knot, haqspan?
posted by five fresh fish at 1:54 PM on September 26, 2005

For my part, I can't buy the ultra-prosaic explanation offered by Snopes. I'm sure they're right that it isn't one of the esoteric folk etymologies -- like "some other state's" penal code, especially after you have all 50 of them at your fingers -- but the term was known when I was in high school, just a few years later halfway across the continent. How did it spread so quickly? It's too pat, something I learned to suspect back in the day on alt.folklore.urban along with the Snopeses. Maybe I do want it to contain a bigger meaning, the same way people crave religion and other symbols, but I really feel deep down there's something missing.

It's like the phrase "the whole nine yards". Nobody can find out what the original thing was that was nine yards. The first time the phrase was used in print anywhere was as the clichë.
posted by dhartung at 1:55 PM on September 26, 2005

33
posted by maggiemaggie at 1:59 PM on September 26, 2005

DDD
(do drugs daily - on my desk in 'high' school History class - dude!)

Never smoked the stuff, but have all kindsa friends who do.
How do you not know 4:20 is the best time to get high?

I'm picturing a Drew Carey-esque guy with his pants hiked up past his navel trying to "rap" with the "dudes" : Look, I know you kids think you're hep... (etc)
posted by Smedleyman at 2:13 PM on September 26, 2005

From the "raves" section of the website:

"So, if you have noticed that your son or daughter has a vast collection of glow sticks in his or her room, ask them where they got them and what they’re using them for."

I haven't laughed so hard in days.
posted by Ndwright at 2:35 PM on September 26, 2005

That War at Home sitcom is kind of interesting - it seems to be an attempt to bring the sitcom back from the dead. It's supposed to be "edgy", hence all the drug references. How cool that the parents smoke pot? But did you notice the line about how pot is a gateway drug? Oh well, it's a start. To get real truth and perspective you have to wait for the Family Guy.
posted by jimmy76 at 3:07 PM on September 26, 2005

Dad: Son, can you tell me what that 420 sticker is on your backpack signifies?

Son: It's Hitler's Birthday

awkward silence

Mr_Zero kicked this thread's ass.
posted by iron chef morimoto at 3:34 PM on September 26, 2005

"the youth of today"

I love that so much.
posted by redteam at 3:39 PM on September 26, 2005

nice balloon knot here.
posted by mrhappy at 3:50 PM on September 26, 2005

posted by VulcanMike at 3:56 PM on September 26, 2005

interesting link mrhappy.

Heroin sounds a lot like like Demerol. Got some of that in the military when I got injured.
I can see how a person could get addicted to that.
Which, really to me, is the best reason to stay the hell away from some things. I avoid gambling fr'instance. Was at the track a bit ago, turned around and I'd blown $200 without even thinking. Yikes!

I picture drug abuse being the same except with higher highs and lower lows.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:52 PM on September 26, 2005

The War at Home is really weird show, it is pretty edgy, it'll touch stuff that other shows would probably stay clear of but it's very conventional in structure and really not funny. It's like a granny with a dirty mouth from a teen movie a little perverse but predictably so.

It's about edgy situations without being edgy. It's edgy in the same way that Head of the Class is smart.
posted by I Foody at 7:28 PM on September 26, 2005

I've had nicknames on Ebay and my blade forums with a '420' handle since 1999.

I guess I do drugs.
posted by Balisong at 9:41 PM on September 26, 2005

A kid once told me that a 420 was police lingo for a pot bust. A "420", as if there were a long numbered call list for use on police radio, to foil the general public from knowing what they were up to. This kid was in the business of dealing, so I just believed her. I remember a line from a song...
"Sometimes the price is fifty five dollars, prices like that make you moan and holler, 'specially when it's sold by a kid who's only fifteen. Know I love you baby, yes I do."
posted by Oyéah at 10:11 PM on September 26, 2005

Where's Bobseric?
posted by klangklangston at 10:33 AM on September 27, 2005

Smedley, you have a rare wisdom re your instinct about when something feels too good to be good for you.

nkyad, when I'm a kid, I want you for a daddy, or mommy, whichever. Your children are lucky indeed. You escaped the creepy psychosis that seems to happen to parents: They forget what children are about, exactly when they need to remember, forget their OWN childhoods, and substitute some impossible image of children, making everyone pretty miserable. Just noticing...
posted by clicktosubmit at 8:38 PM on September 27, 2005