The Acid Heads Wordbook

Dear sixties souls, we are really happy to present you The Acid Heads Wordbook. This glossary gather our favorite Hippie words & expressions. We hope you'll discover some new and integrate them in our daily meetings.

All show and no go: Looks good superficially.

Acid Head: synonyme of hippie.

Bad Acid: Poorly made LSD, probably cut with speed which can cause a bad trip. Some people at Woodstock downed bad acid and the crowd was warned about it, making the term instantly popular. 

Ban the Bra: Slogan symbolizing the Feminist Movement, women's rights and the sexual liberation of the 60s. 

Be-In: One of the first gatherings of hippies, January 14, 1967 was at the Polo field in Golden Gate Park. It was called "A Gathering of the Tribes." In attendance were the Grateful Dead, the Jefferson Airplane, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, and thousands of stoned, tripping hippies with painted faces, beads, bells, robes, etc. The Diggers were there giving out free food. There was no big reason to be there, other than to be there, hence a Be-In. An event where you groove on everyone else. 

Benzedrine: 'Bennies'..'Pep Pills' 'Uppers'. Prescribed originally as diet pills, these became abused as mood elevators, and by college students studying all night.

Blast: Use to describe a really great time. "We had a blast at the Stones concert!" 

Blow your mind: If something "blows your mind," it it so surprising, overwhelming, exciting, amazing, or disturbing that it momentarily or permanently destroys brain function. That book blew my mind! 

Bread or Dough: Bread = dough = money. Instead of working for money, a hippie prefers to focus on what they'll do with that money (buy bread).

Bummer: What a bummer, bummed out, or bummed are all 60s' ways of saying that you're depressed or disappointed about something. This term seems to come from the phrase bum rap, which means you've been treated or punished unfairly.

Busted: To get arrested.

Buzz: Feeling of being high. "Did you catch a buzz from that joint?".

Catch some rays: Get out in the sun.

Contact High: An altered state of consciousness that people get just being around other people who are doing psychedelic drugs. 

Cop out: Escape from responsibility.

Crash: To stay in someone else's place.

Dead Head: A fan of the Grateful Dead.

DIG: When you "dig" something, you really like, understand, approve, or enjoy it. "Can you dig it?" is a way to ask if someone understands or is cool with something.

Don't flip your wig: Don't be upset.

Downer: If something is depressing or disappointing, a hippy calls it a "downer," a word that probably comes from the 1960s drug culture when the familiar term for stimulants was "uppers" and tranquilizers were called "downers." So if someone is a downer, they make everyone around them feel kinda dull and sad.

Drop Acid: To take a dose of LSD. 

Dropout: Refuse to conform with society.

Earth First!: Radical environmental group that uses direct confrontation to save the environment.

Easy Peasy: Expression which means that something is very easy to do. Peasy doesn’t mean anything, it is just here for the rhyme.

Far Out : When something is amazing, unusual, radical, or unconventional, it is far out. This phrase applies when a subject or idea is so radical that it expands your consciousness beyond this universe.

Five Finger Discount : To steal something.

Flip Out: To lose it. To go crazy. 

Flower power: The poet Allen Ginsberg coined this term in 1965 at an anti-war demonstration. It was meant to characterize a non-violent way of opposing the status quo (as opposed to gun power, which is how The Man maintains control). Hippies wore flowers in their hair and offered them to the police during anti-war protests as a gentle gesture of peace, love, and resistance.

Freedom riders: Civil rights protesters.

Free love: The counterculture of the 1960s included a reevaluation of the rules and traditions around relationships. Convention dictated strict and binding rules about relationships and marriages, rules that were oftentimes difficult or harmful to people (especially women and gay people). The hippies experimented with the idea that people should be free to love whomever, wherever, and whenever they want.

Fry: When a hippie takes too many drugs, their brains might "fry." Being "fried" is being too high on drugs (usually acid, mushrooms, or some other hallucinogen). In the 60s, lots of hippies fried their brains on acid and never fully recovered. If you're fried, you are exhausted, worn out, and overextended. Anything that "blows your mind" might leave you fried.

Get Laid : To have sex.

Get off of it : If someone tells you to get off of it, they mean stop acting so high and mighty. Let go of your ego, step down off your soapbox, and calm yourself.

Gig: A concert.

Gimme Some Skin : A way of saying when someone wants to receive a low five from someone else.

Good Vibrations : Good vibes is a slang phrase for the positive feelings given off by a person, place, or situation.

Go With The Flow : This expression reflects the Taoist philosophy of living in the moment and being open and accepting instead of resisting, struggling, or trying to control things.

Grok: This term was coined in 1961 by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein in his novel Stranger in a Strange Land and it means to understand something fully—not just to know but to also fully empathize with it or understand it so utterly that you merge with it and it becomes a part of you. To know is human, but to grok is divine.

Guru: A spiritual teacher.

Happening: An event where people get together just to be together, usually involving music. 

Heavy: If something is "heavy," then it is deeply profound or weighs down on your conscience. If someone is heavy, they are serious, deep, important, or intense. That movie was so heavy that I had to sit down under a tree and think, man.

Hippy Trip: Consuming both LSD and Mushrooms at the same time. resulting in a triptacular experience.

Hit: A hit is a dose of a drug, like a "hit of acid" or a "hit from a joint." Give me a hit. Hit me up.

Karma: Indian term for fate. You reap what you sow.

Keep on truckin’: The Grateful Dead's famous song and underground cartoonist R. Crumb both helped popularize this phrase, which means keep moving forward in life with hope, positivity, and purpose.

Let Your Freak Flag High/ Wave Your Freak Flag High: Originated in Jimi Hendrix's song "If 6 Was 9" and popularized by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's song "Almost Cut My Hair," this expression means don't let the world suppress your true self, don't be afraid to let your true self be free, be proud and unapologetic of who you are. A "freak" is another word for a hippie, and your "freak flag" might be your long, tangled, unwashed hippie hair. 

Like A Rolling Stone: "how does it feel to be on your own, with no direction home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone?". This proverb refers to people who are always on the move, never putting down roots or accumulating responsibilities and cares.

Make love, not war: In a nutshell, this slogan encapsulated two of the main ideas of the 1960s counterculture: peace and love (as opposed to war and subjugation). This is just one of the phrases that protestors would chant at anti-war demonstrations.

Mantra: A form of meditation that uses repeated phrase(s) that help to free the yogi from random thoughts by focusing on the phrase.

Mellow: Use to describe someone who seems relax, calm, unworried or laid-back. 

Meditation: An exercise where one focuses one's attention, relieving your thoughts.

Mind Game: When someone tries to control your mind, often by trying to bullshit you. 

Out of sight: or "outtasight." This is what you'd say when something is so appealing or amazing that it blows your mind. That riff is outtasight!

Paisleys: - These fractal like patterns appeared on clothes in the sixties and were a popular psychedelic design. 

Patchouli: - For some reason this is the fragrance most associated with hippies, probably because it masks the smell of marijuana.

Pigs: Nickname for policeman. 

Pot: Marijuana. 

Primo: Top quality. That grass was primo!

Pusher: Someone who sells drugs, usually in reference to hard drugs like heroin.

Question Authority: Another bumper-sticker-worthy catchphrase from Timothy Leary that became a mantra of the movement, it means don't be a sheep, don't follow blindly—instead, think for yourself and challenge the narrative of the powers that be.

Right On!: An expression of strong agreement or support; an emphatic YES!!!Use this phrase when you fully agree with someone or something. It's like a verbal thumbs-up.

Rip Off: To steal, or have something stolen.

Ripped: To have been very stoned.