Epicurean Philosophy And Boomer Word Associations ("Feeling No Pain")

Quote from Cassius

The question is: To what extent does hearing someone say that they are "feeling no pain" automatically invoke an association that what they mean is that they are "stoned?"

I tend to use "stoned" when I want to express feeling "disoriented", closer to an anesthetized state of νάρκη (nárkē, from which we derive our word "narcotic"), meaning "torpor" or "numbness". In this regard, anything that numbs pleasure along with pain (I'm thinking of narcotics, not cannabinoids) might be painless, but also, pleasure-less, and that wordplay doesn't help us enjoy pleasure.

(As a regular user, I express the pleasant relief I feel as being "mellow"or "relaxed", as opposed "stoned" or "baked", which I would reserve for states that resemble drunkenness.)

Slang, however, is fluid, and not only can mean anything we want, not only does mean multiple things to different people, but has, throughout our own history been used in mutually contradictory ways: words like "stoned" have meant everything from stumbling intoxication to a mild buzz, and that difference is the difference between pleasant relief versus dangerous anesthetization.

Quote from Cassius

The question is: To what extent does hearing someone say that they are "feeling no pain" automatically invoke an association that what they mean is that they are "stoned?"

To me, it would be a great extent considering the times I lived in as a young man when I would hear the phrase now and again.

While I'm largely clueless about its connotations today among post baby boomers, a quick AI search tells me it's gained a wider scope. More escape from stresses in general rather than being "stoned". It's a reason that Stoicism has gained such wide interest among the post boomers.

Although stoned works! 🥴