Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 10:21:40 -0800

From: Mary Bucholtz bucholtz[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GARNET.BERKELEY.EDU

Subject: Re: hella hawkin'



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.



Jesse,



I'd be interested in knowing where you've heard "hella." As far as I

can tell it's restricted to Northern California, esp. the Bay Area--does

that fit your own observations? I wouldn't characterize it as a prefix,

incidentally--what leads you to describe it this way?



Mary Bucholtz

Department of Linguistics

University of California, Berkeley

bucholtz[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]garnet.berkeley.edu