We were having lunch the other day and were discussing a good friend of ours. I made the statement, “He’s a trip.” I periodically say that when talking about someone and I always mean it as a compliment. It’s kind of a way of saying that the person is funny, or entertaining, or in some way has a unique personality that leaves an impression.
“He’s a trip” is an American slang phrase that probably/possibly started back in the 1960s in the “counterculture” movement. Back then the word “trip” became associated with experiences induced by psychedelic drugs. Hippie era people often described their drug-induced experiences as “trips.” And over time, the meaning of the phrase evolved beyond the drug culture to describe people or situations that quirky, unusual, or maybe amusingly unpredictable. Probably today, “trip” is an outdated word in the drug world…. I doubt that many drug users use it anymore.
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