Hippy Crack: A Retraction

On Monday, the 16th of July 2012, we published an article entitled: “The Eight Dumbest Things About The Daily Mail’s Laughing Gas Article“.

In the article, we erroneously implied that The Daily Mail‘s use of the term “hippy crack” was both lame and inaccurate:

“There are few things in this world more horrifying than when a Daily Mail journalist attempts to use slang. Over the course of the article, the term ‘hippy crack’ is used three times, and ‘sweet air’ once. Which is more times than either of them have ever been used by an actual genuine young person, ever.”

Many of you have since been in touch to let us know that this is simply not the case:

In light of this feedback, VICE Media regretfully acknowledge that our claims were false.

Unfortunately, all members of our global slang fact-checking department were away on the day the article was made live (through a combination of illness and pre-booked annual leave), so the article was unable to be scrutinized to our usual standards.

We at VICE strive to substantiate any and all claims made by our editorial staff on our website and in print, but sometimes mistakes do happen. And for this, we apologize.

In lieu of this oversight, we decided to head out onto the streets to apologize.

VICE: We’re sorry we didn’t know what “hippy crack” is.
Moin, 39: What? What’s hippy crack?

Can you hazard a guess as to what it is?
I assume it’s some kind of drug. Or a hippy’s crack? Like, their ass crack?

What kind of drug?
Weed? Some kind of weed?

No, apparently it’s a slang term for nitrous oxide.

We’re really sorry that we didn’t know what “hippy crack” is.
Carmen: What?

You know, hippy crack. You know what that is, right?
A hippy… party? Festival?

No, apparently it’s a slang term for nitrous oxide.

Marcus, 21, (left) and Daniel, 22. 

Hey guys. We’re sorry we didn’t know what hippy crack is. We wanted to apologize for letting you down.
Marcus: Hippy crack? What’s that?

Care to make a guess?
Marcus: Some sort of drug?
Daniel: Hippy crack? LSD, maybe?
Marcus: Yeah, LSD. Something like that.

No, apparently it’s a slang term for nitrous oxide.

The team at VICE Media are not entirely sure what these findings mean. Perhaps that there is some kind of direct correlation between the amount of time people spend outside and the amount of time people spend leaving pedantic comments on our articles? Who knows.

Anyway, we’re sorry, everybody. The Mail was right all along.

Yours sincerely,

The VICE Apologies and Retractions Dept.

Previously: Streetfest 2012: A Retraction