Hella good Thanksgiving!

[Bookrat]

At 11:45 AM -0800 11/24/99, AAllan at AOL.COM wrote:
>Has anybody commented on the complimentary epithet "hella good"? Seems to be
>among young people on the Pacific Coast.

I don't know about "hella good", but "hella" as an adjective has been used
by young people in my region (San Jose, California) at least since the late
80s (Some of those young people have inevitably become slightly older
people.)  My impression is that it was first in use in the alternative rock
scene, and spread out from there -- I know I saw it in an alternative 'zine
(along with "hecka") circa 1990.

I can testify that it is still in use -- just a couple of weeks ago one of
my co-workers turned to another and said, "It's been hella busy today."

(My peers and I work with a lot of mostly twenty-something college
students.  We're all about staying contemporary. :-)  )

Ken Miller
Assistant Drone
Johnson Institute for the Study of Harmless Drudgery