Comments on: Why do you think they call it “dope”?

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:57:42 +0000

Nonsense… You can still buy and fabricate these model planes from scratch if you wish. I’m building one right now and only thing I need is a cheap alternative to traditional dope (Butyrate or modern Nitrate).

By: the real me

the real me — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:37:30 +0000

“Well, George, at some point you are supposed to load them up with fire crackers, douse them with lighter fluid, and throw them, burning, off the roof of the nearest garage or apartment building into a pile of dried leaves. where you have strategically placed little green plastic soldiers.

Then you run them all over with your bike a few times.”

::Greg is in my head!! He’s stealing my memories!!!Thought theft!!::

By: BruceH

BruceH — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:26:57 +0000

Plumbers often use pipe dope to glue plastic or PVC pipe and tubing together. Yes, they still call it dope, and the term is delivered without a trace of irony or double entendre. If you were to suggest a connection to the popular usage of the term, you would likely be told to grow up.

Probably there are other trades in which the term is still used in its original context.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:13:26 +0000

Well, George, at some point you are supposed to load them up with fire crackers, douse them with lighter fluid, and throw them, burning, off the roof of the nearest garage or apartment building into a pile of dried leaves. where you have strategically placed little green plastic soldiers.

Then you run them all over with your bike a few times.

(Archaeologists love kids. Or hate them. Depending.)

By: george.w

george.w — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:44:23 +0000

It’s off your topic, but you brought back memories of my brother making incredibly detailed model planes out of balsa struts and doped paper. He painted them by hand and applied decals, and creatively fabricated small parts like landing gear and wind screens.

And somehow, all lost in the years. Probably none of those hand-made miracles are extant today.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 06:49:11 +0000

OK, I just checked. It is often called “Butyrate Dope” these days, but in older instructions you see Butyrate of Dope sometimes. I remebmer it as “Butyrate of Dope” It may not be correct from some idealized perspective, but this is toy glue, so that may not be the point.

This is indeed the “glue” from “sniffing glue” of the day, and it did indeed melt plastic toys.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 06:43:32 +0000

Nigel: You’re taking this to a whole other level.

By: Nigel

Nigel — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 01:08:41 +0000

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary:

dope
1807, Amer.Eng., "sauce, gravy," from Du. doop "thick dipping sauce." Extension to "drug" is 1889, from practice of smoking semi-liquid opium preparation.

Presumably the model airplane stuff you remember was called "dope" because it was a liquid that you had to slather all over the model as if covering your food with sauce or gravy. The fact that it could also be used to get high (presumably it is the same or similar stuff that is in the glue that people sniff) is probably just a coincidence, since "dope" meaning drug seems to have been around since 1889. Also, the name "Butyrate of Dope" seems implausible to me, seeing as butyrate is a chemical term and dope clearly isn't. I think it must have been just "Butyrate Dope," i.e., dope made of some sort of butyrate. Google books tells me it is is actually cellulose acetate butyrate. (I think that book is about real airplanes, not models, but I guess both use the same sort of "dope." Certainly there are online sites offering butyrate dope for model makers. It looks like it is easy enough to buy now.)

By: Moopheus

Moopheus — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:31:46 +0000

“Our butchers were German and our Bakers were Italian.”

And who were the candlestick makers?

By: JL

JL — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:34:42 +0000

The clear “dope” was great for melting your little brother’s plastic toys — in the name of science and experimentation, of course!