Growing Cannabis
The Etymology of Cannabis and the Rise in the Usage of Slang “Weed”
In a discussion on MSNBC Chat show, Alessandra recently pointed that Ronan Farrow’s made a statement to seem hip. Alessandra Stanley of NY Times referred to cannabis as weed and apparently, Yulia V. Tymoshenko (Ukrainian opposition leader) stated that she has amazing hair. Marijuana across the world is popularly termed as weed - the hippest current term for cannabis!
Considering few other instances, Conan O'Brien’ cracking joke on this matter or Seth Rogen’s testimony that concerned the Alzheimer's disorder of his MIL, etc- all seem funny. Cannabis is an Anglicized corruption of marihuana, traditionally known as hemp. Marihuana is a Spanish term for sativa strain. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the currency of cannabis rose significantly in the US in 1930s during the debate over the marijuana. Ever since marijuana was started considered as drug, it has become exotic alternative to familiar phrases cannabis and hemp.
During early 30s, there were many slang terms, including weed; American Speech include a new word, marijuana cigarette in their dictionary in 1929. After couple of years, OED reported, ‘the marijuana’, 'the weed’, 'reefer’, and ‘doped cigarette’. Raymond Chandler said, “It doesn't surprise me that the first author cited using the term in its currently popular manner. They were looking for … a suitcase full of weed.” Google's Ngram Viewer gives a rough sketch of how this weed term became this popular or slang term for marijuana.
If the data on Google's Ngram Viewer is considered, it looks like weed became popular very soon. In Google Books, the term smoke pot appears 94 times, smoke marijuana 69 times, and smoke weed around 150 times. Urban Dictionary has separate definitions for marijuana; descriptions have been taken by users. There are nearly 225 definitions for weed. Very popular and widely used definitions posted by AYB include ‘Brings peace when used wisely,’ ‘God's gift to the world’, ‘Pass the blunt, dude,’ etc. Weedage, Weedagasm, WeedAcre, Weedabis, weeda, WeedAcres, Weedaginity, and Weedable are some of weed derivatives defined by Urban Dictionary.
Recently, there has been increased search for the term weed; however, it isn’t really surprising as well as autoflowering seeds. It is completely a generational thing. For a moment, it was been understood that anything related to cannabis is humorous, which is quite funny. Weed hasn’t broke mainstream journalism; marijuana is considered as weed- the hip slang term. It would not been surprising if people were asked to vote whether to call this as weed or just medical cannabis.However, its popularity continues to grow among recreational users, as well as those who genuinely need it for medicinal usage.