A number of you were confused by “hella” and “hecka,” which I mentioned in my previous post. Some of you stated that you’d never heard of such faux-words, but were annoyed that people used them. Well, prepare to be more annoyed, because I’m about to use them in context.
“Hella,” as far as I can tell, is a synonym for “very.” For example:
That beer is HELLA bad.
It is HELLA hot.
That is HELLA cool.
And yes, people generally shout it, or at least say it louder than the rest of their sentence.
“Hecka” is the less-vulgar version. Say you are 13 years old, and don’t want to be caught fake-swearing. You’d use “hecka.”
That pretzel is HECKA good.
She is HECKA dumb.
I HECKA hate homework.
Every time I hear someone use one of these words, I want to scream. Boo to you, “hella” or “hecka” user! BOO TO YOU!!!
Girl, these abominations are here to stay – they were invented in the mean streets of San Francisco (at least according to Urban Dictionary): http://tinyurl.com/pkd3n
I has some California friends from the Bay area, and they do use those words. One is a younger surfer dude, whose unadulterated use of those words makes them tired and lame. The other’s my best friend, whose use of “hella’ rubs off on me whenever I’m around him. I’m glad it doesn’t happen when I’m around anyone else.
My SoCal sister gave me a “HELLA NORCAL” shirt, which I never, ever wear. Unless everything is dirty. And only then to sleep in. Maybe. Gah.
No confusion here. Then again I’m a Bay Area native. A true native of the right age range uses hella or hecka with pride. It’s one of those words that quickly lets people know from what part of California you hail. Because no one uses it in SoCal unless they’ve been hanging with folks from NorCal a lot.
Oh. And thanks for the boo. Not sure if I think it’s hella tight or hella bootsie. Jury’s still out. But as you see, it’s been part of my vocabulary for 3/4 of my life so I doubt it’s going away at this point.
And it’s usage is not limited to suffers. It’s also popular with us urban types.
Oh, I knew what you meant. I just think it’s impossibly lame that there’s a PG version of “hella.” “Hella” is silly enough; I had no idea people were going one more absurd with “Hecka.” Sheesh.
BOO on that! That’s hecka lame, yo.
I blame Cartman from South Park. That was the first time I ever heard “hella.” “Hecka,” however, is a new one to me.
“Hecka” is actually a word that occassionally shows up on elementary spelling tests here….I so wish I was kidding.
xox
What I’m not liking at the moment…
my Australian flatmate who I helped choose!
and it being Monday tomorrow…
Ooops. Occasionally guilty of “hella” over here. And I live in the middle of the damn country, so I have no excuse.
“Hecka” is just lame. If you’re going to swear, just fucking swear already, damn the audience and consequence.