Slang Entry # 20 - gonzo

gonzo noun cocaine UK, 1996

gonzo adjective crazed; having a bizarre style. Although coinage is credited to US journalist and author Bill Cardoso, close friend and partner in adventure with the late Hunter S. Thompson, the dust jacket to Cardoso's collected essays claim only that he is 'the writer who inspired Dr. Hunter S. Thompson to coin the phrase "Gonzo Journalism"'. Thompson first used the term in print and the term is irrevocably linked with him in the US US, 1971

gonzoid adjective crazed; having a bizarre style US, 1979