Scromiting

About

Scromiting, a portmanteau of "screaming" and "vomiting," is a slang term seemingly coined by U.K. tabloid Metro to describe "cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome," an affliction that has affected some long-term cannabis users in which they will have intense nausea and fear of vomiting. After the illness was referenced in a Twitter thread by an anti-cannabis journalist in 2022, it became the subject of jokes on the site, with many making up stories about how they "scromited" from using cannabis.

Origin

"Scromiting" appears to have been first coined by Metro^[1] on December 5th, 2017. According to the publication, American doctors had been using the term to describe patients suffering from cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), an affliction that can affect long-term cannabis users who wake up feeling nauseous and anxious about vomiting. The affliction is poorly understood and its causes are unknown, as are the reasons for the effectiveness of its treatment (hot showers).^[2] According to Snopes,^[2] there are documented cases of the illness, but the idea that American doctors had coined the illness "scromiting" is unconfirmed.

Spread

On July 2nd, 2022, Daily Mail reporter Eve Simmons published an article^[3] criticizing the state of California's recent legalization of marijuana, arguing it was a "public health disaster." In her ensuing Twitter thread furthering her argument against legalized cannabis, she stated that Los Angeles doctors had told her they'd seen an increase in cannabis poisoning and "scromiting."^[4]

Many on Twitter did not take her claim seriously and began to mock Simmons' use of the word "scromiting." Many of the jokes came in the form of people sarcastically relating their own false stories of times they suffered "scromiting." For example, on July 3rd, Twitter user @BillCorbett^[5] joked that in addition to "scromiting" he'd also been "jumpsharting," gaining over 90 retweets and 3,300 likes in two days (shown below, left). The Twitter account for the band Eve 6^[6] posted a fake story that same day about how their wife had died from scromiting, gaining over 90 retweets and 2,800 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

Another variation on "scromiting" jokes involved imagining characters from pop culture discussing the phenomenon. For example, on July 3rd, 2022, Twitter user @kept_simple^[7] imagined a Seinfeld scene about scromiting, gaining over 20 retweets and 270 likes in two days (shown below, left). User @flavortwnmarket^[8] imagined the term as part of a scene from The X-Files, gaining over 50 retweets and 220 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References