I've notice lately the word "jones" being used in ads (in US by Verizon phone company)and in TV show dialog.

I am familiar with the word -- know it for over 30 years-- but it is a street word. Has any one else noticed its increased use? and is it a US slang word or do others use it?

The Verizon ad refers to "your talk jones". Some sense of the word is evident from usage, send private if you want to know meaning, or at any rate, its original meaning.

Altogether salient to this conversation, where did "hankering" come from? The sophisticated "jones" seems to have supplanted the rustic hayseed "hankerin'" in these modern times... Yet another Jones to keep up with ~

there's nothing too unusual about the original street meaning; it's simply an addiction, usually to heroin. then there's the infamous Cheech and Chong parody, "Basketball Jones":
http://summer.com.br/~pfilho/html/lyrics/b/basketball_jones_featuring_tyrone_shoelaces.txt

You took the basketball right out of my mouth! I've heard "hankerin" a bit more than "jonesin" these days, however only in the context of the phrase "I've got a hankerin for some spankerin"...

ps. Have you met Mrs. Jones?

Looks like I've missed out on that one - I've never heard the word jones, other than as part of a name.

Is the verb form ("I'm jonesing for some chocolate right now") any newer or older than the noun?

One of the many rewards of reading this board is learning the current jargon. Helps this old lady keep up with the teens in the neighborhood ... then up pops "jones" and I haven't heard it and haven't a clue as to meaning(s). Would appreciate any explanations via private messages.


Aloha, wow

OED lists this sense as coming out of the 'keeping up with the Jones' usage. the first citation lends credence to this, I guess; inflected forms came later.

2. slang. A drug addict's habit.
1968 Sun Mag. (Baltimore) 13 Oct. 19/4 Soon you're out to keep from getting the Jones. 1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 71 Jones, a fixation; drug habit; compulsive attachment. 1971 Black World Mar. 54/1, I don't have a long jones. I ain't been on it too long. 1971 E. E. Landy Underground Dict. 113 Jones, the habit of a drug addict—eg. His jones is heavy. 1974 Publishers Weekly 12 Aug. 50/2 Knows the reality of Detroit's heroin sub-culture as few of those who are not ‘Jones men’ do. (‘Jones’ stands for both heroin and the habit.)

Anyone have an etymology on this word? Was jones originally street talk for heroin, as in "I'm looking for Mr. Jones, he been around your way"?