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American origin. A ‘pipe dream’ is an unrealistic hope or fantasy. What's the origin of the phrase 'Pipe dream'? The phrase ‘pipe dream’ is an allusion to the dreams experienced by smokers of opium pipes. Opiates were widely used by the English literati in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Jun 17, 2017 · The term pipe dream denotes an unattainable or fanciful hope or scheme. Of American-English origin, it originally referred to the kind of visions experienced when smoking an opium pipe. This is clear from an early instance of pipe dream in an article about Rex Felix, the carnival king at the Mardi-Gras festival, published in the San Francisco ...
Jul 9, 2011 · Were it not for this the following incident, which can be verified by the word of several reputable men, would have long ago received the space and attention it merits instead of being consigned to the wastebasket as the ‘pipe dream‘ of an opium devotee.
But it wasn't until the late 19th century that opium-induced flights of fancy came to be known as pipe dreams. The origin for the phrase appears to have been in the Chinese quarters of American cities like San Francisco and Chicago, where opium dens were a common — and commonly criticized — phenomenon.
A pipe dream is an unattainable hope or fantasy and is first cited in America from the late 19th century. The allusion is to the delusions or euphoria induced by smoking an opium pipe.
4 mins. Yesterday we heard some history on the term "doping" in sports and today, language columnist Ben Zimmer explains where the term "pipe dream" comes from. Hallucinogenic Origins. The origin...
Feb 29, 2004 · However, and this is a great big “however,” the fact that “pipe dream” originally referred to opium does not make it a “drug reference” today. “Pipe dream” has been in common use for more than 100 years and has long since lost any connotation of illicit behavior.
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