honkin'

[Mark_Mandel at DRAGONSYS.COM]

Grant Barrett <gbarrett at AMERICANDIALECT.ORG> extracts the following from the
archive:

>>>
On Wed, 24 Jan 1996, Jesse T Sheidlower wrote:

  Not entirely sure; it depends on how accurate the
  transcription is. "Hella-" is an intensive prefix like
  "mega-," that has been in use at least since the late
  '80s. I've never heard "hawkin'" before, but I have
  (rarely) encounted "honkin'" meaning roughly "exciting;
  jammin', etc." Perhaps these are different realizations
  of the same word.
<<<

My son, age 18, has been using "honkin'" for at least a couple of years as a
general intensifier, as in "a honkin' big [whatever]". I'll ask him to
explicate. We live in Framingham, west of Boston, which has been his home from
ca. age 2 until heading off to college this fall.

-- Mark