Jonesing

Post by **Biff** » 06 Jul 2022, 20:51

Ok, does the hive mind of CPS know where the term 'Jonesing' comes from?

JimVH · Post by **JimVH** » 06 Jul 2022, 23:33

Hippies.

Glad I could help.

tuttle · Post by **tuttle** » 07 Jul 2022, 05:10

Shot in the dark, thinking it's a play on "Keeping up with the Joneses", basically wanting what they have, thus "jonesing" became a term for desiring something?

Did I win?

Del · Post by **Del** » 07 Jul 2022, 05:56

My first encounter with the term "jones" was in the early '70's.

I was a young teenage boy, so I had several "Cheech & Chong" comedy albums. One track was a bit called "Basketball Jones," about a middle school boy (named 'Tyrone Shoelaces') who delivered the money quote: "I got a bassetball jones." ["What's that, Tyrone?"] "A bassetball jones is when you love bassetball so much, you are like a junkie."

1970's drug slang was as complicated as modern-day gender jargon. No one could keep up.

So much for the hive mind. Here's what internet says:

WHERE DOES JONESING COME FROM?

In the 1960s, especially in New York, heroin as well as heroin addicts, dealers, withdrawals, and drug addiction itself were all colloquially referred to as jones and Mr. Jones. One popular, but unsubstantiated, story has it that Jones Alley in Manhattan used to serve as a hub for heroin addicts.

Hugo Drax · Post by **Hugo Drax** » 07 Jul 2022, 06:50

I was waiting for that, Del. Good job!

Mr Jones is heroin.

tuttle · Post by **tuttle** » 07 Jul 2022, 12:44

Hugo Drax wrote: ↑07 Jul 2022, 06:50 I was waiting for that, Del. Good job!

Mr Jones is heroin.

I'm young enough to not have known that.

Now I'm rethinking that Counting Crows song...

Del · Post by **Del** » 07 Jul 2022, 12:55

I guess this thread is ready for a derailing.

So on the original Cheech & Chong album, the skit began as a sportscaster interviewing the coach of a championship inner-city school team. Mostly about the coach's criminal record, etc. I'm not able to locate this bit on the web (didn't try very hard).

Eventually, they call the star kid over for a word. Cheech Marin voices him with a lousy falsetto. Coach says, "Tell 'em why you so good, Tyrone...." "Cause I got a bassetball jones"..... Then the kid breaks out in a pre-rap era blues anthem, and here it goes: