Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em
So 4/20 is a big holiday for marijuana users. For instance, there's a big celebration in Denver.
But it's not just Colorado, there are events around the country (and I guess around the world).
I don't know why 420, or 4/20, means something special. Perhaps someone can put the weed down for a second and enlighten me.
I mean, in Ann Arbor, for decades they've had the Hash Bash, and that takes place on 4/1--a day that sort of makes sense.
posted by LAGuy @ 11:30 AM
5 Comments:
Actually, it began as 4:20 (twenty minutes past four o'clock). It took many years for its meaning to expand to include everything else with a "420" in it, including 4/20 (the twentieth day of April). You can find some details in the Wikipedia article, although this article doesn't make clear when "420" moved from a tiny portion of the counterculture to the wider counterculture and eventually the whole culture.
(I haven't smoked since 1991. But back in the late 1980s I smoked a lot, and I never heard of "420" back then.)
This Huffington Post article gives more history. It establishes that by 1990, both "4:20" and "4/20" were being used by Deadheads in the Bay Area. It also seems to establish its origins in the 1970s, and its use in Pulp Fiction (1994).
I don't think I heard the term until the mid-1990s, and even then I only heard of "4:20", not "4/20". But as I am not the epitome of hipness, that doesn't prove much.
Thank you Eobard.
I think this shows that the internet makes everyone, high and low, more aware.
I think it was a ploy to steal the "420" from the Hitler admirers and the alt Reich. Google Hitler birthday meme and you will find a number of disturbing cards
Here in Colorado it's confusing. 4/20 was picked up in Boulder 10 to 15 years ago among the students. But as well as Hitler's Birthday, it is the day of the Columbine massacre. news shows don't know whether to assume a somber or raucous tone. Next year will be the 20 year remembrance of Columbine.
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