How many times have you heard, “Let’s smoke some pot?” or “Let’s get some Marijuana?”

Both the terms “Marijuana” and “Pot” are used synonymously. 

You might be knowing how 420 have different ideologies. Some signify it as code for Pot while others as a mass hooting for weed legalization. 

There’s no scientific stand to prove this. But yes, every synonym has a story of origination. 

Let’s explore the history of Marijuana and its nicknames. 

Where Does The Term Marijuana Come From?

Before knowing the history of nicknames, it’s important to learn how the term ‘marijuana’ co-exist. So basically, the term marijuana did not enter the American Vocabulary manually. 

This happened in 1930 when people in Mexico raised their voices for the anti-marijuana movement. Due to this movement, all the protestors associated cannabis with locoweed.  

According to NPR, this term remained secretive and mysterious. It wasn’t open to the public. No American was randomly using this world. People find it risky to use. 

Do you know what these perspectives were?

The National Public Radio then published few ideologies behind this:

Chinese Immigrants were using “ma ren Hua” for describing a marijuana sapling. Later on, people started associating the term ‘Spanishized’ with Marijuana. 

Now, this is surprising to know that Spanish people took Marijuana in a cross way. They colloquially pronounce it as mejorana. Moreover, they also associated this as Chinese oregano. 

A layman concluded Marijuana with the name of a Spanish girl- Maria and Juana. 

While some believe that this word came from the Bantu version, they thought the slaves of Angolan had brought it to Brazil through Portuguese. And so people in their native language called it -“ma-kaña.”

But how Marijuana is known as Pot?

Marijuana was subject to different theories and perspectives. But, it is mysterious to learn why Marijuana is known as Pot. 

Probably to shorten the name, or is there some link associated with it?

According to Civilized, the term ‘pot’ came from a short story in 1938. Along with that, 30% of the respondents of Civilized Cannabis Culture agrees with this theory. The famous short story is titled “The Way We Live Now” by African-American author Chester Himes. He has inked a line where he mentioned the word pot and associated it with smoking. 

“She made him smoke Pot and when he got jagged [high]…she put him on the street.” After reading this, people thought that Pot is referred to with Marijuana. The word “high” confirms their intuition. Thus it got rolled on to the crowd of communities. This is how Marijuana was called Pot. 

Another perspective:

There is another theory to confirm the term ‘pot’ with Marijuana. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “pot” comes from the Mexican term “potaguaya”. This word was used especially for cannabis leaves. The acronym potación de guayaya refers to a ‘drink of grief.’ As a result, people thought that this is a beverage prepared by soaking cannabis leaves in a wine. 

Do you know Pot is called Weed?

Marijuana is a flowering plant. It buds and grows into a wild field just like a weed. In the year 1929, in an American Speech, according to Slate, Weed was called Marijuana Cigarette. Therefore, people started to use Weed as a Smoke Pot. Later, in 1932, The Chicago Defender slanged the term reefer for smoking pot. Now, that’s a new question to learn from. 

How is a smoke pot referred to as Reefer?

There was a sailor on a ship. He was constantly rolling the canvas of the ship with a murmuring of “reefing a sail.” A stranger on board asked him for a reason. He concluded that reefing a sail looks like rolling a joint. So, people relate it to smoke Pot and Marijuana. 

How did people think Marijuana is called Mary Jane?

When NPR published the ideologies of Maria and Juana, people started believing it. They got so elite to name Mary and Jane as the two ends of Marijuana.

Thus, there are countless ideologies and stories associated with Pot. Every nation or community has its way of calling. There’s no significant proof to stabilize the conclusion. So the next time when you speak Pot, Weed, Reefer and Mary Jane, ask others if they know about it? Understand how they learn from, or do they have any other nickname?