Anyone Jonesing to get well?

I hope someone knows the derivation of "the Jones". I'd quite like to find out... -Michael (retired semi-professional lab-rat)

Michael Bradley wrote: > > I hope someone knows the derivation of > "the Jones". I'd quite like to find out... Merriam-Webster online claims "Etymology: origin unknown" http://www.m-w.com -- LSJ (vte...@white-wolf.com) V:TES Net.Rep for White Wolf, Inc. Links to revised rulebook, rulings, errata, and tournament rules: http://www.white-wolf.com/vtes/

On Thu, 14 Jun 2001 17:20:31 +1000, Michael Bradley wrote: >I hope someone knows the derivation of >"the Jones". I'd quite like to find out... Could be Indiana Jones - "why did it have to be snakes!?" Andrew

"Michael Bradley" <michael...@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message news:<ap0W6.4616$qJ4.2...@ozemail.com.au>... > I hope someone knows the derivation of > "the Jones". I'd quite like to find out... This may be apocryphal, but I thought "Jonesing" came from a song: "There's something going on, but you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?" Bob Dylan "The eagle plucks my eye! The worm, he licks my bones! Feel so suicidal, just like Dylan's Mr. Jones! Gonna die! Gonna die!" The Beatles

In article <06D4E02CAAFD6C77.555997FB...@lp.airnews.net>, [ quoted text not captured ] If you mean the actual root of the phrase, it's unknown, as LSJ mentioned. What the phrase signifies is craving. It's normally used as drug slang for withdrawal effects, but can be colloquially used for anything you really want at the time. Typically used as a verb, i.e. 'I'm jonesing for a burger, man,' or the like. The verbform is a corruption of the original Jones, used as a noun (He's got the Jones for some weed/coke/smack). gomi -- Yes, I believe but I'd rather not pray What I believe in I'd rather not say, baby

"Michael Bradley" <michael...@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message news:<ap0W6.4616$qJ4.2...@ozemail.com.au>... > I hope someone knows the derivation of > "the Jones". I'd quite like to find out... "the Jones" refers to the shivers and painful cravings your body has when you try to stop cold turkey a powerful drug eg heroin. When you deny your body the drug, it responds by basically making you sick, craving the drug until you get it <feel better>? usage. "man I'm jonesing for some smack, d00d." as in "man, I need/crave some smack."

emmits...@hotmail.com (Emmit Svenson) wrote: > This may be apocryphal, but I thought "Jonesing" came from a song: > > "There's something going on, but you don't know what it is, do > you, Mr. Jones?" Bob Dylan > > "The eagle plucks my eye! The worm, he licks my bones! Feel so > suicidal, just like Dylan's Mr. Jones! Gonna die! Gonna die!" The > Beatles For those that don't know the references, the Dylan song is "Ballad of a Thin Man" from 1965's "Highway 61 Revisited" album. The chorus of the song is: "But something is happening and you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?" The Beatle's song is "Yer Blues" from the White Album. The quoted verse is actually as follows: The eagle picks my eye The worm he licks my bone I feel so suicidal Just like Dylan's Mr. Jones. Lonely, wanna die If I ain't dead already Ooh girl you know the reason why. As an aside, the Counting Crows song, "Mr. Jones," is about the same charcter. In "No Direction Home," the biography of Bob Dylan written by Robert Shelton in 1985, there's an applicable quote: "Mister Jones, one of Dylan's greatest archetypes, is a Philistine, an observer who does not see, a person who does not reach for the right questions. He piously pays his social dues through self-serving tax deductions, pays to watch freak shows but doesn't like the entertainment, is superficially educated and well bred but not very smart about the things that count..." Pretty much your basic poseur. In this case, Mr. Jones pretends to be a part of the counter-culture, rather than high society, in order to be considered cool, but really is just faking it and doesn't care for it much. Corrections aside, while many of Bob Dyaln's and The Beatles' songs are about drug use, (i.e., "Mr. Tamborine Man" and "Strawberry Fields") I don't think that was what Bob Dylan was writing about in this case. In any event, the word "jones" first saw widespread use in the 1960's among inner city slang, esp. the black population, to mean the onset of withdrawal symptoms from heroin addiction. It later came to mean a carving of any kind. Since Bob Dylan's song was on a 1965 album, it would have been too late been the origin of the word. The likely source is probably along the lines of some local guy named Jones that had a heroin habit that he couldn't afford and continuously suffered withdrawal symptoms. A phrase gets coined and the usage spreads and the rest is history. Oh...and if you find the person responsible for the "Valley Girl Speak" of the 80's, please kill them by actually gagging them with a spoon. Regards, Noal McDonald VEKN Prince of Metro Detroit

In article <bb705c59.01061...@posting.google.com>, Noal McDonald <dhar...@my-deja.com> wrote: >As an aside, the Counting Crows song, "Mr. Jones," is about the >same charcter. Alas, I have to call Reyda on you. WHERE NIT-PICK IS THE RULE! See http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmrjones.html for complete information on Counting Crows' 'Mr. Jones,' and the provenance thereof. [ quoted text not captured ]

"Gomi no Sensei" <go...@best.com> > Noal McDonald <dhar...@my-deja.com> wrote: > > >As an aside, the Counting Crows song, "Mr. Jones," is about the > >same charcter. > > Alas, I have to call Reyda on you. > > WHERE NIT-PICK IS THE RULE! > > See > > http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmrjones.html > Hey ! you're invoking me for such painful things ! bah, too late now, that i wrote that Nit-pick thing... by the way are you aware that "Gomi no sensei" means "master/ elder of trash" ? did a japanese guy put that nickname on you ? or you chose it by yourself ? reyda (hey,reyda is actually my real name. don't search for it in a 80's pop song)

In article <9gbar8$dpg$1...@hadron.noos.net>, Reyda <re...@noos.fr> wrote: >"Gomi no Sensei" <go...@best.com> >by the way are you aware that "Gomi no sensei" means "master/ elder of >trash" ? did a japanese guy put that nickname on you ? or you chose it by >yourself ? It's from a William Gibson short story in the "Burning Chrome" collection. It's a little melodramatic, but it's my net nickname, and it's too much of a pain the ass to establish a new identity. There was a also a very minor Marvel Comics character by that name in the early 1980s. [ quoted text not captured ]

"Gomi no Sensei" <go...@best.com> wrote in message news:9gbc0b$2hla$1...@nntp1.ba.best.com... > It's from a William Gibson short story in the "Burning Chrome" collection. Thought so. :) > There was a also a very minor Marvel Comics character by that name in the > early 1980s. He had two lobsters. Xian --Winnebago Warrior, true yankee pioneer!

In article <HHfW6.1252$b6.4...@news.uswest.net>, Xian <xi...@NOSPAMwaste.org> wrote: > >"Gomi no Sensei" <go...@best.com> wrote in message >news:9gbc0b$2hla$1...@nntp1.ba.best.com... >> There was a also a very minor Marvel Comics character by that name in the >> early 1980s. >He had two lobsters. Yes, he did! For knowing this almost mind-numbingly obscure bit of trivia, you are my Favorite Person of the Month. [ quoted text not captured ]

"Gomi no Sensei" <go...@best.com> wrote in message news:9gc1ig$2t7t$1...@nntp1.ba.best.com... > >He had two lobsters. > > Yes, he did! For knowing this almost mind-numbingly obscure bit of > trivia, you are my Favorite Person of the Month. Yay! I've always wanted to be your Favorite Person of the Month, but I had previously believed that I was shunned by the judges for being too tall. And I've even got half a month left! Yay! Fallen Angels. Marvel, 7 or 8 issue mini-series. He may have also been in the (New) Teen Titans, but I can't remember. Gomi. Had two lobsters, I believe one was blue, the other was green. He could speak to them, and they were mighty, yet lobster-sized. I unfortunately can't remember their names...if any. Xian, rolling out the comic book trivia today... [ quoted text not captured ]

"Xian" <xi...@NOSPAMwaste.org> wrote > > Fallen Angels. Marvel, 7 or 8 issue mini-series. He may have also been in > the (New) Teen Titans, but I can't remember. Gomi. Had two lobsters, I > believe one was blue, the other was green. He could speak to them, and they > were mighty, yet lobster-sized. I unfortunately can't remember their > names...if any. Pretty crappy series as I recall. It's the one where Sunspot left the New Mutants and Cannonball went to try and convince him to come back. Boom Boom first appeared in this series too IIRC. This was about the same time that I decided Marvel sucked. Gomi (no offense) was probably the worst thing about Fallen Angels... he was a kid-cyborg who talks to pet mutant lobsters (yes, the lobsters were mutants too) and IIRC had telekinetic powers but almost no control over them. Actually, that wasn't a bad idea... effectively he had a big mental battering ram. New Teen Titans was a DC comic, so Gomi would not have been a member of that team BTW. In a last-ditch effort to make this post at least somewhat-related to the newsgroup (before people bitch me out for netiquette) there're apparently a few comic books being produced that are based in the World of Darkness. Here's the link: http://www.white-wolf.com/aboutus/moonstonebooks.html Maybe they could add some promi cards to attract those of use who geek out for comics *and* CCGs. Cheers, WES (whose name means <--- that way)

>Pretty crappy series as I recall. It's the one where Sunspot left the New >Mutants and Cannonball went to try and convince him to come back. Boom Boom >first appeared in this series too IIRC. This was about the same time that I >decided Marvel sucked. Ah! The good X-Force before they managed to mess everything up (and I really hated the artist who did all the later issues). >Gomi (no offense) was probably the worst thing about Fallen Angels... he was >a kid-cyborg who talks to pet mutant lobsters (yes, the lobsters were >mutants too) Hey, I think the idea of mutant lobsters is kinda cute! How about "Ghouled Lobsters" as a new retainer? =) Halcyan 2

if it is as in keeping up with the jones, then it is an english phase and probly come frosm the fifties or so when presperity was the boom. otherwise see any slang for cold turkey - american style On Thu, 14 Jun 2001 17:20:31 +1000, "Michael Bradley" [ quoted text not captured ]

dhar...@my-deja.com (Noal McDonald) wrote in message news:<bb705c59.01061...@posting.google.com>... > I don't think that was what Bob Dylan was writing about in this case. Oh, sure, now you're going to tell me Lennon wrote Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds for his kids. :-) You're right, the dates are wrong. Good research, Noal.

"Wes" <gh...@mnsi.net> wrote in message news:9gc5k...@enews3.newsguy.com... > Pretty crappy series as I recall. It's the one where Sunspot left the New > Mutants and Cannonball went to try and convince him to come back. Boom New Something-or-Other. This is one of the many reasons I should not be allowed to speak after 10pm. My brain does not tend to connect to my mouth (or fingers). > first appeared in this series too IIRC. This was about the same time that I > decided Marvel sucked. Yeah, although there were still a few redeeming titles. Not many, though. > Gomi (no offense) was probably the worst thing about Fallen Angels... he was > a kid-cyborg who talks to pet mutant lobsters (yes, the lobsters were I don't know about that, there were some other pretty useless bastards in there. And Boom-Boom annoyed the crap out of me. > http://www.white-wolf.com/aboutus/moonstonebooks.html > > Maybe they could add some promi cards to attract those of use who geek out > for comics *and* CCGs. Hmm...there have been plenty of *worse* ideas on this newsgroup. :) Xian

In message <MAvW6.641$s_.4...@news.uswest.net>, Xian <xi...@NOSPAMwaste.org> writes >> http://www.white-wolf.com/aboutus/moonstonebooks.html >> >> Maybe they could add some promi cards to attract those of use who geek out >> for comics *and* CCGs. > >Hmm...there have been plenty of *worse* ideas on this newsgroup. :) Personally, I think the best thing that could be done would be to convince WW that non-set-included promo cards are a Good Thing (tm). (So long as they print plenty so there are stocks of them around for a long time.) -- James Coupe PGP Key: 0x5D623D5D "You reinstall Dial-Up Networking. The Elf screams and becomes EBD690ECD7A1F an icon. *** CONGRATULATIONS! *** You completed the BT Internet B457CA213D7E6 Helpdesk training course in 15 out of a possible 9000 moves." 68C3695D623D5D

Noal McDonald wrote: > The likely source is probably along the lines of some local guy named > Jones that had a heroin habit that he couldn't afford and continuously > suffered withdrawal symptoms. A phrase gets coined and the usage > spreads and the rest is history. Michael Bradley informs me that "Harry Jones" is listed as a slang term for Heroin by some online [US] government anti-drug dictionary. The term, if it was really used, was probably (IMO) a play on the slang "Mary Jane" used for Marijuana. At any rate, the term would seem to be the most likely origin of the current usage of "The Jones". Although, if true, it seems implausible that Merriam-Webster would be unable to ascertain this origin. -- LSJ

>> The likely source is probably along the lines of some local guy named >> Jones that had a heroin habit that he couldn't afford and continuously >> suffered withdrawal symptoms. A phrase gets coined and the usage >> spreads and the rest is history. > > Michael Bradley informs me that "Harry Jones" is listed as a slang > term for Heroin by some online [US] government anti-drug dictionary. The dictionary he's thinking of is probably the one run by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center. It also contains a link to a site run by the White House. Anyway, if you're interested, the url is: http://www.drugs.indiana.edu/slang/home.html None of the dictionaries listed word origins. > The term, if it was really used, was probably (IMO) a play on the > slang "Mary Jane" used for Marijuana. *nods* Quite probably. Besides Harry, I've heard Henry used as well. (Don't ask where. Suffice it to say that I grew up in a trailer park in a Detroit suburb that was worse than Detroit itself.) > At any rate, the term would seem to be the most likely origin of the > current usage of "The Jones". Although, if true, it seems implausible > that Merriam-Webster would be unable to ascertain this origin. That's because Harry, Henry and Jones are usually independent terms for heroin. Makes sense to combine them. Anyway, after making the above conjecture, I spoke to my stepfather and he said that Jones (or Mr. Jones) had been a term for heroin itself before it was used to mean the withdrawal symptoms. A few web sites back him up, including this one: http://www.takeourword.com/Issue040.html It also has an interesting origin of the word "yen" that I wasn't aware of. Regards, Noal