I’m British but never really thought about this until my nephew asked. He thought it was a reference to Charlie Sheen but I’ve heard it called Charlie since the mid 90s so I doubt that’s the case.

Is it Cockney rhyming slang? If so, what for? Like what’s the rhyme?

38 comments

  1. It’s not rhyming slang, but it’s the same concept.

    You can say Charlie, and talk about “him” in public without anyone overheating you understanding it’s a drug deal etc

  2. There was a kids tv show from the late 80s called Charlie Chalk which I always thought was a very suspicious name

  7. Same reason MDMA is Molly, LSD is Lucy, base is Billy, etc.

    Can talk more freely about drugs in public or in texts. Not just to avoid police per se, but also naive strangers, parents, etc.

  11. Was known as ‘Bugle’ where I grew up (North London).

    I always thought that there was a huge adult-only marching band in the area.

  13. I’m sure it was called that in the 80s, and I feel well before, though my Google fu is failing me.

  14. Don’t have the answer but the Red Hot Chili Peppers have a song called ‘Charlie’ on their Stadium Arcadium album so I’m guessing it’s not just a British term (so not cockney rhyming slang).
    https://youtu.be/wNvOUkRTkz8

  15. “Charlie Sheen- that’s not a name, it’s a description of his face!” – Sean Lock R.I.P

  18. I always assumed it is because Charlie is C in the phonetic alphabet. Thinking about it though, I’ve never heard anyone refer to heroin as hotel.

  19. Gen x here!
    I remember the full name as charlie horse?

    Horse- H – heroin.

    Plus
    “Charley horse” is a really bad cramp?? Kinda like when you need more heroin?

    I’m old….just ignore me if I’m completely off the ball!
    *edit….. totally ignore me, I’m tired, just woke up, didn’t read it properly……it was cocaine not heroin in the question. I’ll just go get measured for my coffin now…..

  20. It’s derived from rhyming slang. Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane), rhymes with cocaine and then eventually gets shortened to Charlie.

  25. Not sure but we also call it Chaplin round my ways so I think it’s just cos it has a c in it. Same way we call mdma Mandy

  27. Back in the 70’s, speed was called “lightbulbs” and “wattage” was used to describe how powerful.

    Charlie was cocaine, and horse was heroin, and weed was herbs.

  34. We used to call it Chang in the early 90’s. I just assumed it then went to Charlie Chang, then just Charlie

  35. People I know call it Mozam. Which is short for Mozambique, because bique sounds like beak, which is another slang word for cocaine because it goes up your nose. It’s a real rabbit hole sometimes.

  36. Av heard it called bugle down south, in Glasgow they call it gear, thought every cunt was on the smack up here, on the coast smack is called gear or the devil’s dust, packed the bugle in and switched to ginseng super strong,

  38. The earliest reference I could find was from 1935 in a book of slang called The Underworld Speaks by Albin Pollock. I think it may be a reference to the phoenetic alphabet so C for Charlie is a good way of ordering your narcotic of choice without being too obvious ( heroin is often simply called H for the same reason)

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