Learning American Sign Language is a wise and worthwhile idea, especially for a cannabis user. If privacy is an issue, ASL is your best option. You can literally speak without making a sound, which can surely come in handy when you smoke pot. Best of all, lots of stoner slang translates into sign language. So get ready to express yourself. Regardless of if it’s new or review, language means connection, and we’re talking about weed. With that in mind, put on your thinking cap and free up your hands! It’s time to learn some new stoner slang in ASL.
Stoned
Left hand – Hold your other hand in front of you in a relaxed position, palm facing down.
Right hand – Begin by pointing at your temple. Using a forty-five-degree downward angle, trace a line away from your face as you move your fingers as if to pinch. With your fingers pointed down, move your right hand to the top of your left.
Smoke (Can express both noun and verb)
Using your index and middle finger, make a ‘V’ shape and bring it up to the bottom right corner of your lower lip. Tap your chin twice.
Note – When signing smoke, you might be tempted to change your finger positioning to mimic the way you hold a joint. Don’t do it because you won’t be saying smoke anymore, you’ll be signing dried cannabis flower.
Heavy Toker/Smoker
To sign for heavy toker/smoker is made of a series of motions. Begin by signing smoke and follow it with the sign for heavy.
In order to make the sign for heavy, open both hands and hold them in front of you, palms up. Keeping your palms open, lift and drop both hands approximately a foot. Repeat this gesture.
Extract
There are a lot of ASL variations for this word when you want to be specific. For example, the sign for tooth extraction is basically the same except you gesture to your chin, instead of the left hand.
Left Hand – Hold your left hand in front of you in a relaxed position with your palm facing down.
Right Hand – Make a ‘V’ With your index and middle finger and turn your palm towards your torso. To begin, place your right middle finger in between your knuckles on your left hand. Pull the ‘V’ away and curl the tips of your index and middle finger inwards.
Party
Extend your pinky and thumb while curling your other fingers towards your palm. With your thumbs pointed up, twist your wrists twice.
Party Hard
With both hands, make two ‘V’ shapes with your index and middle fingers. Starting at your waist, move your arm to make a sweeping downward point. Repeat this gesture.
Hookah
Most people don’t use a hookah to smoke weed but it’s very close to the sign for pipe. Extend your pinky and thumb while curling your other fingers towards your palm. With your thumb turned toward your chin, tap twice.
Spell it out
If you know the alphabet, you can speak sign language. Obviously, this is not ideal. We don’t communicate by spelling all our words, however, it’s a great fallback plan if you don’t know a sign. Learn to spell the alphabet in ASL and you’ll be able to say any weed word you want.
The author would like to give thanks and credit to the hard work of Jolanta Lapiak and, HandSpeak: American Sign Language Online.