UC Davis student pushes new math unit: 'Hella'
>Austin Sendek, a UC Davis physics student, has started a petition to establish a new, scientifically accepted prefix, "hella," to be used in front of units of weight, distance or computer storage, much as "milli," "kilo," "mega" and "giga" are now used.
>His petition already has hella signatures.
>"Hella" is a Northern California term that is a slangy synonym for "really" or "a lot of."
nutraxfornerves
2
chriskean1
Sounds like a hella good idea to me too. I first heard "hella good" in San Francisco around 1995. Because the speaker was an immigrant with a pronounced (delightful) accent, I thought at first that "hella" was just a mistake.
CK
3
sneaker_fish
It has spread though in usage. I use 'hella good' and 'hella bad' in some casual conversations with friends.
I am not exactly a northern Californian surfer. Not exactly common though.
5
northamerican
It must be a short form of "hell of a lot".
Which one could often see spelled out as helluva lot.
I'd prefer helluva to hella; it would make the prefix seem more American than fake Greek.
6
nutraxfornerves
I think the big difference between "helluva" and "hella" is that "helluva" has to modify a noun while "hella" can be an adjective or can intensify an adjective.
You can say "that's a helluva elephant" or "that's a hella elephant" but you cannot say "that elephant is helluva big." It has to be "that elephant is hella big."
Pro tip
Lonely Planet
trusted partner
trusted partner