Quote History Quoted:
100% this.
Somebody too young to remember the crack epidemic heard the term in Pulp Fiction and thought it meant “badass,” completely missing the context.
Makes me laugh anytime I read it.
I asked this a few years ago, and one awesome arfcommer actually dug up a newspaper article from San Francisco in the early 1900s that references pipehitters as opium addicts.
It’s an OLD drug term
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It certainly meant crack using individuals but was misinterpreted to mean individuals who would use pieces of plumbing or fencing as cudgels and "pipehitter" became a term for what some might call a "bad hombre".
This isn't much different from how this place has mangled some meanings,such as neckbeard.
100% this.
Somebody too young to remember the crack epidemic heard the term in Pulp Fiction and thought it meant “badass,” completely missing the context.
Makes me laugh anytime I read it.
I asked this a few years ago, and one awesome arfcommer actually dug up a newspaper article from San Francisco in the early 1900s that references pipehitters as opium addicts.
It’s an OLD drug term
This post nails it.
Pulp Fiction came out in '94. The SF association didn't surface until later. Someone saw the movie, didn't understand the reference and thought it sounded like a cool term for 'badass' and appropriated it. Other folks who also didn't know the origin perpetuated the usage.
Ad already pointed out, the pipehitters in the movie were described as wielding pliers and blowtorches, not pipes. They hit the (crack)pipes, not hit WITH the pipes.