herb

Fresh herbs are great. You can rub them between your fingers and then smell the bruised leaves to discover their distinctive fragrances, and you can add them to your food by the handful. Most dried herbs lose their potency after a few months, so you should always check your herbs before you use them -- give them a sniff. If they're smelling stale or have no discernable fragrance, throw them out.

Most health food stores in the USA have dried herbs (both cooking and medicinal) in bulk, generally Frontier brand, which is pretty good. This is the best way to buy them. The supermarket will charge you an enormous amount of money for ancient, denatured, prepackaged herbs that aren't worth using.

Common uses and their herbs

Herbs for smoking

• marijuana
• tobacco

Herbs for food

• basil
• bay (leaf)
• chives
• cilantro
• curry leaf
• dill
• epazote
• lemon grass
• marjoram
• mint
• parsley
• oregano
• rosemary
• savory
• thyme
• sage
• tarragon
• wintergreen

Herbs for treating medical conditions

• boneset
• chamomile
• comfrey
• echinacea
• feverfew
• mint
• marijuana
• mugwort
• nettle
• St. John's Wort
• pennyroyal
• yarrow

Herbs for making tea

• bergamot
• chamomile
• hibiscus
• lemongrass
• mint
• tea

Herbs for imparting fragrance

• bay
• lavender
• lemon verbena
• mint

"Poison is in everything and no thing is without poison. It is the dosage that makes it either a poison or a remedy."²

-Paracelsus¹

¹See Paracelsus; A 16^th century Swiss physician who described the role of herbs in medicine as such.
²Merry S. Baum, Herbs: The Roots of Medicine, HealthState, 21^st Century Medicines, Volume 9:1, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, Winter/Spring 2001.

While "herb" means "person who isn't very cool at all", it's rarely directed at those outside the user's social circle. That loser kid your cousin is dating is a herb; the smelly boy who you would never, ever talk to is a freak. "Herb" implies that you're in the same group as the person you're insulting, or at least know the same people. It's not a strong insult, often used jokingly, though it carries a connotation of disparagement. Not quite disgust, not an indictment of sexual immorality, "herb" is used in the similar situations as one would playfully say "dork".

The origins of "herb" are very mysterious. It appears to have first seen use in the early or mid-1990's, and it has not spread much beyond the Atlantic seaboard. Sid passed me this link: http://www.tvacres.com/admascots_herb.htm Since I was one year old in 1985, I can't vouch for Herb the Nerd's popularity as a Burger King mascot, but I guess it makes sense.

Herb [OE. herbe, erbe, OF. herbe, erbe, F. herbe, L. herba; perh. akin to Gr. φορβη phorbê food, pasture, φερβειν pherbein to feed.]

1.

A plant whose stem does not become woody and permanent, but dies, at least down to the ground, after flowering.

⇒ Annual herbs live but one season; biennial herbs flower the second season, and then die; perennial herbs produce new stems year after year.

2.

Grass; herbage.

And flocks Grazing the tender herb. Milton.

Herb bennet. Bot. See Bennet. -- Herb Christopher Bot., an herb (Actaea spicata), whose root is used in nervous diseases; the baneberry. The name is occasionally given to other plants, as the royal fern, the wood betony, etc. -- Herb Gerard Bot., the goutweed; -- so called in honor of St. Gerard, who used to be invoked against the gout. Dr. Prior. -- Herb grace, ∨ Herb of grace. Bot. See Rue. -- Herb Margaret Bot., the daisy. See Marguerite. -- Herb Paris Bot., an Old World plant related to the trillium (Paris quadrifolia), commonly reputed poisonous. -- Herb Robert Bot., a species of Geranium (G. Robertianum.)

© Webster 1913.