blitted

This week’s quote is from a 1996 song called Smoke Buddha. Of course, Redman is not referring to Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. Buddha is a slang word for marijuana. Another related term in the song is dutch, which you might think was related to the easy access to pot in the Netherlands. However, it’s a Dutch Masters cigar whose tobacco has been replaced with marijuana.

While tracing the etymology of slang words can be a challenge, blitted, which appeared in the early 1990s, seems likely to have come from blitzed, which has been slang for drunk or high since the 1960s. Though synonyms lit and obliterated may have also played a part, later in the same song, Redman says, “Hit the funky if you're riding around getting’ blitz.” Though it never gained the popularity of blitzed, blitted is still in use today.

That hoopty Redman is driving is an old car in bad condition, and the obvious reason for tinting the windows would be to cover the smoke from police. However, it wouldn’t be a bad idea even if he had gotten blitted prior to his trip, since pot smokers often have telltale red eyes. I remember in the seventies, a local high school made a rule to prohibit students from wearing sunglasses for that very reason. I don’t know whether any administrators were trained to distinguish between students who were high and those who had allergies, but it makes me nostalgic for those “innocent” days before principals had be on the lookout for kids high on crack cocaine and crystal meth.

A. C. Kemp | January 31, 2009