"Hophead?"

[fretlessman71]

This word meant something long before it referred to a beer drinker who was in love with I2PAs... it meant "drug addict." But for the life of me, I can't seem to find out WHY. Anybody know?

[Stodbrew]

Maybe because when you're on something you're "hopped up."? Just a thought.

[fretlessman71]

Sure, but I think that phrase came from the same origin that "hophead" came from....

Ever see the movie "Tombstone" with Kurt Russell? There's an early scene where Wyatt and his brothers and their respective wives and girlfriends are preparing to leave for Arizona, and Wyatt's girl Maddie comes up to him and tells him that she can't find her medicine in any shops. One of the other ladies comes over to her and offers her some of her bottle, with the warning: "You be careful now... it's full hop." To which Maddie replies: "Oh, I only use it for headaches." Maddie ends up completely addicted to the stuff later on... so maybe it's whatever she was using that the phrase comes from. I sure as heck don't know...

[steveh]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
Sure, but I think that phrase came from the same origin that "hophead" came from....

Ever see the movie "Tombstone" with Kurt Russell?

One of my favorite movies - I love a good western. Mattie was given a bottle of laudanum by Louisa, which was a pharmacist's mild preparation of opium that was used as a pain-killer back then, much as aspirin is used today! Terribly addictive too. In "The Shootist," John Wayne's character is given laudanum to help with the pain of his terminal cancer.

Hop was slang for opium at one time and also led to the phrase "hopped up" and "hop head," for someone high on or addicted to opium.

Now, can anyone tell me how to play Faro?

S.

[fretlessman71]

That's it! Thanks steveh! (Anyone know how it came to be that hop was slang for opium? They're both flowers, but that can't be it...)

All I know about Faro is the odds are all on the house, and that it's a game for fools... (Thanks, Doc!)

[studentofbeer]

also maybe hop plants being related to cannabis it lead "reefer addicts" to be called "hop heads" as well?

just a thought.

[skahtboi]

Originally posted by steveh

Hop was slang for opium at one time and also led to the phrase "hopped up" and "hop head," for someone high on or addicted to opium.

S.

Very good! Later on the term also became associated with users of another opiate, heroin. Heroin users in the 20's and 30's were often referred to by this title, as were oddly enough, cocaine users. The last line from the song "Cocaine Blues" even warns, "Come all you hop-heads and listen up to me, stay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be."

[skahtboi]

Originally posted by steveh
Now, can anyone tell me how to play Faro?

S.

Nope. But this may help!

http://www.bcvc.net/faro/