Hella (word): Difference between revisions
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'''Hella''' is a [[slang]] [[intensifier]] word associated with [[Northern California]] and Washington State (Seattle) but used throughout the [[United States]] and [[Canada]]. It is a [[contraction (grammar)|contraction]] of the phrase "hell of a" or "hell of a lot [of]". |
'''Hella''' is a [[slang]] [[intensifier]] word associated with [[Northern California]] and Washington State (Seattle) but used throughout the [[United States]] and [[Canada]]. It is a [[contraction (grammar)|contraction]] of the phrase "hell of a" or "hell of a lot [of]". |
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It often appears in place of the words "really", "a lot", "totally", "very", and, in some cases, "yes". Whereas ''hell of a'' is generally used with a [[noun]], according to linguist [[Pamela Munro]], ''hella'' is primarily used to modify an [[adjective]] such as "good."<ref>{{cite news |
It often appears in place of the words "really", "a lot", "totally", "very", and, in some cases, "yes". Whereas ''hell of a'' is generally used with a [[noun]], according to linguist [[Pamela Munro]], ''hella'' is primarily used to modify an [[adjective]] such as "good."<ref>{{cite news |
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|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/28/magazine/28ONLANGUAGE.html |
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|publisher=[[Voice of America]] |
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|accessdate=2008-02-13}}</ref> |
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According to Jake Moxie having hella meens having more than enough. |
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According to lexicographer Allan A. Metcalf, the word is a marker of Northern California dialect, as well as the similar word "hecka".<ref>{{cite book |
According to lexicographer Allan A. Metcalf, the word is a marker of Northern California dialect, as well as the similar word "hecka".<ref>{{cite book |
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Revision as of 23:30, 8 April 2011
Hella is a slang intensifier word associated with Northern California and Washington State (Seattle) but used throughout the United States and Canada. It is a contraction of the phrase "hell of a" or "hell of a lot [of]". It often appears in place of the words "really", "a lot", "totally", "very", and, in some cases, "yes". Whereas hell of a is generally used with a noun, according to linguist Pamela Munro, hella is primarily used to modify an adjective such as "good."[1] [2] According to Jake Moxie having hella meens having more than enough.
According to lexicographer Allan A. Metcalf, the word is a marker of Northern California dialect, as well as the similar word "hecka".[3] According to Colleen Cotter, "Southern Californians know the term ... but rarely use it." Sometimes the term grippa is used to mock "NorCal" dialect, with the actual meaning being the opposite of hella.[4] A commentator at UC Davis notes that using the term in the presence of "SoCalers" can elicit a range of extreme reactions.[5]
Earliest studies of the term
By 1993, Mary Bucholtz, a linguist at the University of California, Santa Barbara collated materials from an urban high school in the Bay Area, and found that hella was "used among Bay Area (and more specifically Oakland, CA) youth of all racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds and both genders". Hella remains part of the dialect of Northern California and the Northwest, where it has grown in popularity and spawned several variants, including "hecka", "hellof" and "hecksa". It is believed by most that the word originated in the eastern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area.[verification needed] James Hetfield and the members of Metallica were one of the first celebrities to use the word in both music and interviews. Having come from the bay area around the time the word's popularity spread, it could be said that he was one of the first people to bring "Hella" to the mainstream.
Nationwide spread
By 1997, the word had spread to hip hop culture, though it remained a primarily West Coast term.[6] With the release of the 2001 No Doubt song "Hella Good", one Virginian transplant in California "fear[ed] the worst: nationwide acceptance of this wretched term."[7]
In the South Park episode "Spookyfish", which was the 1998 Halloween special, the character Cartman repeatedly used the term hella to the annoyance of the other characters[8], which contributed to its currency spreading nationally.[9] "You guys are hella stupid" is one of the phrases spoken by a talking Cartman doll released in 2006.[10] The Sacramento-based band Hella chose its name for the regional association; Zach Hill says "It's everywhere up here.... We thought it was funny, and everyone says it all the time."[11] In early 2010, Austin Sendek of UC Davis created a petition encouraging the SI system to designate "hella-" as the prefix for 1027, following "yotta-" for 1024.[12][13] In May 2010, Google integrated the "hella" prefix into the Google calculator.[14]
Worldwide spread
Hella was recently included on the BBC's list of 20 words that sum up the 2000-2009 decade.[15] Defining it as "An intensive in Youthspeak, generally substituting for the word 'very', " hella's inclusion on the list marks its ascension into the international slang lexicon.
SI prefix
As of 2010, an online petition seeks to establish "hella-" as the SI prefix for 1027.[16] The prefix, which has since appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Daily Telegraph, and Wired, was implemented by Google in May 2010.[17][18][19]
References
- ^ William Safire (November 28, 2004). "Kiduage". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
- ^ "Campus Slang". Voice of America. December 19, 2002. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
- ^ Allan A. Metcalf (2000). How We Talk: American Regional English Today. Houghton Mifflin Reference Books. ISBN 0618043624.
- ^ Colleen Cotter (2001). USA Phrasebook. Lonely Planet. ISBN 9781864501827.
- ^ Angela Ruggiero (November 16, 2006). "The ongoing 'hella' battle". California Aggie. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
- ^ Lynette Holloway (January 5, 1997). "Shorties and Scholars Agree, the Word Is Rap". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
- ^ David Gentry (May 16, 2002). "I Hate Hella, All Montagues, and Thee". Charlottesville, Virginia: The Hook. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
- ^ "Spooky Fish Recap". TV.com. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
- ^ Kristin Carmichael (Spring 1999). "Yo, yo, yo ... Catch this Slang is used to unify the masses". CatBytes. California State University, Chico. Archived from the original on 2008-07-24. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
- ^ Luigi Lugmayr (October 28, 2006). "Must Have: Talking Cartman Action Figure". I4U News. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
- ^ Jeremy Scherer (October 15, 2003). "Hella: Slang name for a band that's hard to pigeonhole". Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
- ^ http://www.makehellaofficial.blogspot.com/
- ^ http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-Petition-to-Establish-Hella-as-the-SI-Prefix-for-1027/277479937276?ref=ts
- ^ Kim, Ryan (2010-05-24). "Google gets behind 'hella' campaign". The San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ "A Portrait of the Decade". BBC. December 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
- ^ Moore, Matthew (2010-03-02). "Hella number: scientists call for new word for 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
More than 20,000 scientists, students and members of the public have signed an online petition backing the new quantity, which would be used for figures with 27 zeros after the first digit.
- ^ "Jargon Watch". Wired. 18 (6). June 2010.
...a proposed metric prefix...useful for describing mega-measurements like Earth's mass (6 Hellagrams). The International Committee for Weights and Measures agreed to consider it after a Facebook petition garnered 30,000 signatures
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "The Official Petition to Establish "Hella-" as the SI Prefix for 10^27". Facebook. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
- ^ Kim, Ryan (2010-05-24). "Google gets behind 'hella' campaign". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
External links
- hecka at the Double-Tongued Dictionary