Date: Fri, 21 Oct 1994 13:39:25 CDT

From: Randy Roberts robertsr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]EXT.MISSOURI.EDU

Subject: more bang for the buck



Cites for "bang" meaning sexual intercourse--

Warren Miller, The Cool World (Boston: Little, Brown and Company,

1959), p. 29.

James Baldwin, Another Country (New York: Dial Press, 1962), p. 273.

Jack Kerouac, On the Road (New York: Viking Press, 1957), pp. 42-43.

Farmer and Henley, Slang and Its Analogues, see bangster.

David Maurer, American Speech (February 1935), pp. 10-29.

Eric Partridge, Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Fourth

Edition, 1951, see bang (3) pp. 31.



"Speculation"

I find no direct connection between "more bang for the buck" and the

term "bang" meaning a drug or the result of taking drugs, but it might

raise a connection for someone. Some relevant cites are--

John B. Gough, Sunlight and Shadow, At Home and Abroad (1881), p. 248.

"'In other parts of the world,' says the London Times, 'may be seen

the frown of the African when excited by rum, the contortions of Arabs

under the influence of hashish, Malays furious from bang, Turks

trembling under the effects of opium, . . . .'"



Webster's Dictionary, 1884. Bang, n. a drug.



Paul Robert-Beath, "More Crook Words," American Speech (December 1930)

quoted from Colonel Charles G. Givens, "The Chatter of Guns," Saturday

Evening Post (13 April 1929). Bang, n. A charge of dope. Also,

Bangster, n. A dope fiend.



The Confessions of a Stool Pigeon (Cincinnati, 1931), pp. 38-39.

"The drug racket is the hardest of all of them to bust into for a

shake-down. You can't get a rat to squeal, for they are all snow

sniffers or are taking bangs, and a squeal means shutting off their

supply. . . . It was while we were trimming the peddlers that one of

my stools slipped me a tip on a guy who had a bunch of janes working

the streets for him. . . . We picked one of them up who was banged to

the ears."



David Maurer, "Junker Lingo", American Speech (April 1933), p. 27.

" The injection of dope is referred to as a bang in the arm or a

shot in the arm."



A. J. Pollock, The Underworld Speaks (San Francisco, 1935).

Bang, a morphine injection. Bang, marihuana, hemp, hashish.



Alfred R. Lidesmith, "The Argot of the Underworld Drug Addict," The

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (Northwestern University

School of Law, Chicago: July-August 1938), p. 264.

"A Bang, or to Bang: An injection of drugs is often called a bang.

To be banging up is to be giving oneself a shot. Also used as a

synonym of kick, as in 'I got a whale of a bang out of the pipe.'

Also for a small amount of drugs as in, 'Can you spare me a bang.'"



T. A. Evenson, "I Attend A Marihuana Party," Shock (vol. 1, no. 1, p.

9: October 1941).

"Two cigarette papers are used for each cigarette. First, because

the rough sharp pieces of the weed penetrate the thin sheets, whereas

two sheets provide sufficient strength. Second, two papers, well

wetted, help retain the Marihuana oil. It is the oil that gives the

Bang."



Fortnight (vol. 5, no. 7, p. 12: 24 September 1948).

"Marihuana . . . In India it is known as hashish, and is either

smoked or drunk as an infusion with the colorful name of 'bhang'."



Randy Roberts

robertsr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ext.missouri.edu