wicked, hella-

[Lynne Murphy]

> Does anyone have data that show the regional distribution of 'wicked' and
> 'hella'  meaning 'very' (wicked smart, hellacool, etc.)? My guess would be
> that'wicked' is East or NE and 'hella' is West, but that's just a guess.
> Does anyone hear/use both?
>
> Thanks,
> Heather
>

I think past discussions on this list bear out your intuition.

Is 'pissa' still used in the east?  In the mid-80s you would say "it's
wicked pissa cool" if the thing you were talking about were extra cool, and
'pissa' could just be used as an approval, as in  "You got the new Culture
Club record?  Pissa!"  But while 'wicked' seemed to spread outside New
England, 'pissa' never seemed to.

Lynne