Country Math: When Street Lingo Meets The Register

In this line of work, if you’re only thinking in grams and ounces, you’re going to get smoked in more ways than one. Whether you’re weighing out eighths behind the counter or listening to a customer ask for “half a zip of that Zaza,” country math is part of the job. Not the kind you learned in school. I’m talking street math — where a quarter means 7 grams, a “half” ain’t 50 percent of anything except an ounce, and regional slang could change depending on where your plug grew up.

This isn’t just a lexicon; it’s survival. It’s about moving fluently through customer conversations, knowing what they mean when they say “a dub,” or if “two zips and a baby eighth” is actually 2.125 oz (it is).

The Basics (In Grams)

• Gram = 1g

• Dub = 2g (comes from the $20 bill; pricing varies but the name stuck)

• Eighth / Slice = 3.5g

• Quarter / Quad = 7g

• Half (Half-O, Half Zip) = 14g

• Ounce / Zip / Onion = 28g

• QP (Quarter Pound) = 113.4g

• Half-Pound = 226.8g

• Elbow (Pound) = 453.6g

Money Talk: When Price Is the Denomination

Sometimes the slang isn’t weight at all — it’s a dollar amount, and you’d better know the difference.

• Nick = $5

• Dime = $10

• Dub = $20

• Half a Yard = $50

• Yard Stick / Yard = $100

• Example: “Let me get a yard of that gas” means they want $100 worth. The grams depend on your price point.

• Rack / Stack = $1,000 (wholesale territory)

You’ll especially hear these in legacy market circles or among older heads who talk in cash long before they talk weight.

Regional Flavors of Slang

Let’s take a road trip, because the slang changes like accents across state lines.

West Coast (CA, OR, WA)

• “Zips” are standard in everyday convo.

• “Quads” and “Eighths” dominate mid-shelf transactions.

• “Tree” is a catch-all for flower.

• “QPs” and “Elbows” start popping up the closer you get to NorCal growers.

Southwest (NM, AZ, TX)

• “Halfies” and “Zips” still reign.

• “Dime” and “Dub” still used — sometimes ironically — but they refer more to old-school pricing.

• “Yard stick” gets tossed around by older smokers or street-savvy customers to mean a crisp hundred.

• “Stack” = $1,000, often in wholesale lingo.

• “Slice” = Eighth (a term borrowed from pizza, because of course it is).

East Coast (NY, MA, FL)

• “Dime bags” and “Dubs” are still alive and well, especially in the underground.

• “O” for ounce, “Q” for quarter, “Half-O” for 14g.

• “Onion” = ounce (rhyming slang).

• “Pack” = usually a pound or more. “Running packs” means someone’s moving weight, not lifting dumbbells.

Midwest (IL, MI, OH)

• “Zip” is universal, but “Quad” and “Half-Z” are big too.

• “Fat eighth” might mean 4g, depending on the vibe.

• “Slab” starts to pop up more often in concentrate convos — a large piece of shatter or wax.

When It Gets Tricky

The street doesn’t care about metric conversions. It cares about context.

• Someone says “Let me get a dub,” they might mean 2g, but they probably mean “$20 worth of whatever,” and the weight depends on your pricing.

• “Two zips and a half a quad” isn’t a math problem; it’s someone testing your ability to do country math fast enough to not look like a rookie.

• “Half a P and a few eights for the road” — that’s 226.8g + 3.5g x however many “few” means today.

• “Yard stick” might sound like a measuring tool, but in the back room or on the street, it’s a Benjamin.

Why It Matters in the Shop

1. Education Without Ego – When someone throws out slang, meet them where they are. If they say “a slice,” you don’t ask if they want pizza. You say, “Eighth, right?”

2. Speed and Confidence – Knowing street weights lets you move with flow, whether you’re fulfilling orders or just talking shop.

3. Trust – Customers smell inexperience like old trim. Speaking their language builds respect.

4. Safety and Accuracy – When someone wants a “QP,” you better know how that lines up with state limits (and your store’s compliance).

Street Cred

Country math might not be in your stores SOP (its in ours). You won’t find it in METRC or BioTrack. But it’s real. And mastering it is part of becoming more than just a register jockey. You become someone who knows the game — from the scale to the street.

Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about the grams. It’s about knowing when someone asks for a zip, they might really just be looking for a little conversation and something loud enough to get through the week.