slizzard

me.me

Slizzard begins as slang in the 1990s. According to slang lexicographer Jonathon Green, the word plays on slither (as if one is so high or drunk they can only crawl around) and the -iz infix, notably seen in Snoop Dogg’s catchphrase fo’ shizzle my nizzle.

me.me

The term spread in hip-hop, used by Outkast in their 2000 song “So Fresh, So Clean”: “YKK on yo zippa lick you like a lizard / When I’m slizzard or sober 6 million ways to fold ya.”

The 2002 film Spy Kids 2 featured a slizzard, but this was a hybrid of a snake and, yep, lizard; we don’t suspect they were getting drunk … right?

Slizzard continued seeing wide use in hip-hop slang, eventually making its way to the 2010 hit by rappers Far East Movement in their song “Like a G6.” The high-flying party track set a high bar for a night out, as the artist DEV sings its hook:

Poppin’ bottles in the ice, like a blizzard
When we drink we do it right, gettin’ slizzard
Sippin’ sizzurp in my ride, like Three 6
Now I’m feelin’ so fly like a G6.

A rundown of their night: They’re opening cold bottles of alcohol and drink enough to become incredibly drunk and high. Sizzurp is ready wordplay for slizzard and is a preparation of cough syrup used as a recreational drug.

“Like a G6,” which reached #3 on the Billboard charts, helped popularize slizzard in the mainstream. In 2018, the TV show The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt featured a wedding DJ named DJ Slizzard, known for helping partygoers pop that bubbly.