Bunch
hit a cigarette vs. smoke a cigarette In a movie, someone said to his friend, "Wanna hit this?" while handing over a cigarette. Then the friend takes it. Why use "hit" instead of "smoke"? Is it natural?
Feb 12, 2020 12:08 PM
Answers · 3
Thank you both for answering! It helped a lot for me.
February 13, 2020
Shane's answer is good. Shane, put your comment in as an answer and then Bunch can choose it and close this question. I would add that I often associate 'hit' in this context with the possibility that this is a drug (cannabis?) that is being smoked. But I don't think that is exclusively the case
February 12, 2020
This is a great question. "Hit" can be used as slang when smoking cigarettes (or anything else you can smoke.) If someone says "wanna hit this?" they are probably asking "do you want to smoke one puff of this?" Saying "want to smoke this?" is fine too but it sounds slightly more formal. Slang like "wanna hit this?" is appropriate when the environment is very casual. There are some other smoking slang words that come to mind, too. When you take a puff of a cigarette, you are "taking a drag." If you want to ask someone if they can give you a cigarette, you can say "can I bum a smoke?" If you want to ask someone if they will let you have one puff of their cigarette, you can say "can I bum a drag." I am from Chicago and this is pretty common slang. I don't know if this is the case in other English speaking parts of the word!
February 12, 2020
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