Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

} Valentine:
}
}>} Valentine:
}>}
}>}>The earliest, dated 20-10-86, has "a hella of a lot of".
}>
}>Young Joey's odd snippage here makes it seem like I said this above.  I
}>didn't.  That was the original poster.
}
} Note the double (triple, now) quote marks.  I wrote your name because I was
} replying *directly* to *your* post.

Note that the marks on the line by the original poster (not me) were
single at the time (now quadruple), as were all the quote-indentation
marks on all the lines I actually wrote, such as the ones below:

}>Here's where my comment starts:
}>
}>}>Seems like Cartman used it a lot on _South Park_.  Young Joey seems to use
}>}>it the same way, but my short-term memory seems to be taking a nose dive,
}>}>so maybe I'm mistaken about that.
}
} And that's what I was replying to.

No, it's not.  You can tell that because of what you say I say below, when
it is demonstrably (so far) *not* what I said.

}>} I'd *never* say "a hella of a lot", and I doubt Cartman would either.  I'd
}>say
}>} "a hell of a lot" or "a helluva lot", maybe, and possibly even "a hella a
}>lot".
}>}  But never "hella of a lot".
}>
}>The above paragraph makes no sense as a response to my comment, but only
}>as a response to the self-inflicted odd snippage, which kind of cancels it
}>out.
}
} How does what I said not make sense?  You said, "this is how Cartman uses it"

No, I didn't, as you can verify either from the quoted lines above (as
distinct from your hazy memory of them) or by navigating back upthread.  
I said nothing about *how* Cartman uses the word "hella", but only *that*
he did and that you used it the same way he did.  All the stuff about
"hella of a lot" you got from someone else, not from me.  It was
compounded for you because you quoted the original poster saying "a hella
of a lot of", but used the same number of quote-indentation characters for
that line (originally one, now up to four) that you used later for my
lines.  You caused the confusion and only you are confused by it.  I never
said "hella of a lot"; I only quoted you quoting it incorrectly.

} meaning that he uses "hella" as in "hella of a lot".  You then said I use it
} the same way.  

I said you used it the same way that Cartman used it.  The stuff you got
about "hella of a lot" was from the original poster, not from me.

}                My point was that I *don't* say "hella of a lot".  Is this place
} like the Twilight Zone or something?  I don't see how *my* logic is faulty.

You misquoted me, then you misinterpreted the misquoting and misquoted me
again.  That's how it's faulty.

}>} The most common usage of "hella" is, however, simply "hella" + adjective,
}>as $
}>} mean "really" + adjective.
}>
}>Now we're getting down to it.  This is correct, and is how Cartman uses
}>it.  
}
} Right.  But that's not what you said.

That's exactly what I said, and there I said it again.

}>An e-mail correspondent tells me that a source at Berkeley says that
}>the use there antedates the use in _South Park_ by a long shot.
}
} Definitely.  People have said it originated in Cali in the 80's.  I believe it.
}  SP was like '97-'98-ish.

And it lives on on DVD long after Californians die off.