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"Stealie"?
As Dead Heads, we have our own subset of the English language, which often leads to confusion when we use a particular term with those not in the know. Why, I got in a lot of trouble once in my teaching days by calling a kid wearing a Grateful Dead shirt a Dead Head... Where he got the shirt I cannot say, but he'd clearly never heard the term before and was most offended.
So here, more or less at random, we present some common bits of vernacular and iconic entities that are second nature to us and often completely opaque to outsiders. And the question: how would you explain/define them to someone who was well-meaning but, at least for the moment, clueless?
Feel free to add your own terms as well...
Dead Heads
The Other Ones
RatDog
Furthur
JGB
Legion of Mary
New Riders of the Purple Sage
SYF (Steal Your Face)
Bolt
Dancing Bears
Skeleton & Roses
Dancing Skeletons
Tie-Dye
Dick’s Picks
View From The Vault
Road Trips
Bear’s Choice
…From The Vault
Pure Jerry
Rex F
Furthur
You have no idea (or maybe you do) the struggles I've had with this one lately.
"I'm going to a concert tonight."
"Who are you seeing?"
"Furthur."
"Who?"
"Bob Weir and Phil Lesh's new band."
"Who?"
"They were in the Grateful Dead." (Heaven forbid that I bring up the Merry Pranksters and "the bus" at this point).
Mostly followed by "Oh" (conversation over)....and in a couple of cases, "Why?"
yeah...
and then there's always "Jerry who?"
Adding to the confusion of course is the penchant of Heads to call themselves Jerry's Kids, which must have just made Jerry Lewis livid. Boo hoo... No dis to his charity work but he does have a rather overinflated view of himself.
Ha ha gratefaldean!
This causes even more confusion -
"I'm driving (from Colorado) to Portland and then down to San Francisco"
"Seeing family or something?"
"Nope just following Furthur"
"Who?"
"Bob Weir and Phil Lesh's new band."
"Who?"
"They were in the Grateful Dead." (Heaven forbid that I bring up the Merry Pranksters and "the bus" at this point).
Always followed by "Why?" (conversation over)....and in a couple of cases "Are you freaking nuts?"
"Lazy lightning you say you never strike the same place. I want a double dose in any case" ... "You got to hear my supplication. Got to hear me now. A little bolt of inspiration"
A Miracle - a free ticket to
A Miracle - a free ticket to a Dead show that a fellow Head give you just out of peace, love and concern
Gratefaldean I have nearly the exact same experience explaining Furthur.
There's always confusion
Maybe it all comes from the excessive amount of terms?
Add The Dead!!
They should add some Dead terms to the dictionary. All they have in the Oxford dictionary is Jerry Garcia. Nuttin' else
Ain't nobody messin' with you but you
AND WE ALL LOVE YOU
Nuttin'?"...[Jerry Garcia]
Nuttin'?
"...[Jerry Garcia] picked up an old Britannica World Language Dictionary...[and]...In that silvery elf-voice he said to me, 'Hey, man, how about the Grateful Dead?'"
~Phil Lesh Biography
Banditos {aka, Gold Hat Heads}
We don't need no stinkin' representation in honorable tomes of lingual preservation bearing esteemed names like Oxford, Merriam-Webster, or American Heritage because we've got our own - courtesy of Shenk & Silberman!
I think I picked up my now-well worn copy a few years ago on ebay for about $7 / peace, K - wishing you a joyous spin in the bardo realm!
I think I picked up my now-well worn copy a few years ago on ebay for about $7 / peace, K - wishing you a joyous spin in the bardo realm!Getting on the bus
One day I was in Pensacola FL, talking about going to a show in Mobile and he asked me how long I'd been going to shows. This was at an actual bus stop and a civilian (as I call them 😆)overheard me say "I got on the bus in 1989 when I was 16" and she said "Did you get the youth discount?" I just smiled and said "The bus is free for all who choose to get on." It went well over her head,as indicated by her reply,"What bus are you talking about?" Nothing left to do but 😁😁😁at that point. WALSTIB.(I'm 50 now but it still feels like my first show, Shoreline, Mountain View CA, my 18th birthday,8/17/91)