wicked WAS crazy/insane gradation

[James Harbeck]

>This calls to mind an expression heard frequently among the young (and
>older natives of the area)in far northern New York,  where we lived
>from the mid '70s till '08.  "Wicked" was often used as an
>intensifier   or to signify something admirable.  I can't remember
>ever hearing it anywhere else.

Oh, that was very common in Banff and other parts of southern Alberta
in the early '80s. And I still hear minor echoes of it occasionally
here in Toronto. Also, it's sometimes (as in _Good Will Hunting_ and
some _Saturday Night Live_ sketches) presented as a typical usage in
working-class Boston English.

James Harbeck.

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