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Wicked

Wicked high tides a common problem on Morrissey Blvd. Photo by Lauren Glynn.

A general intensifier; very: "He's wicked nuts!"

The following is from a Reddit discussion:

In Spanish class we were learning the difference between "conocer" -- to be familiar with", and "saber" -- to know as a fact. The professor used the example of the city of Boston: "You would 'conocer' the city of Boston. You would 'be familiar with it.' You couldn't "saber" the city of Boston because you would have to know every inch of the city, to know it as a fact. That can't be done."

Matt then said aloud in his perfect Boston accent, dead serious:

"Albit Einstein could. He's wicked smaht."

Glossary: 


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Comments

That should be spelled "wikkid."

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I moved from Massachusetts 25 years ago, and have lost nearly all of my accent. However, I can't stop saying one word all the time: "WICKED" !!!It's wicked hard to stop !!! (I mean "wikked hahd") LOL, LOL

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I think it is safe to say that "wicked" has now become an entire New England thing, however, anywhere west or south of NE they know right away you're from here the Northeastern side of the states.

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The first thing people made fun of me for when i moved from MA to NC was Wicked. I said something to the effect of "it's wicked cold in the kennel" and they were like "what?!" LOL, I wanna move back to MA soon. I am slowly losing my accent!

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i picked wikked up from my cousins in ny now everyone here (in md) makes fun of me for saying it

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It's definitely a Boston word, and it is not throughout New England now.

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Wicked is most definitely a New England word. I'm from New Hampshire, and everyone uses it there. If you don't believe me, rent a couple Adam Sandler movies. He's from Manchester, NH. I bet you'll hear him say wicked at least once.

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on "Finding Nemo"the lobsters say,"so he swim's down in the dahk, it's like wicked dahk down theah you can't see a thing, how's it goin bahb (bob)"best use of wicked ever!

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a friend's cousin from virginia once asked me why i was cursing everything...I looked at him like he had five heads...he then told me i say everything is wicked and im like der it means very and he said just to use very and im like no, very doesnt exist in new england

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Wicked is derived from wicca, wizard, originally meaning magic.http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=wicked&searchmode=none

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This is a great use of wickid:On the night the Beatles played Boston Gahd'n, some other promotah ran a con-sit at the old Boston Arena starring a flash-in-the-pan English group, The Five Minnits.(really) My friend attended. When my sister astim how it was, he said, "It kina sucked...there was wickid nobody there."

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"Wicked" is maybe one of the best intensifiers ever! Unfortunately, I'm from San Diego, otherwise I would use "wicked" all the time. One of my good friends (from Stoughton) says it all the time. Not many people out West know what it means, but when I use it, I feel like a poseur. Maybe I'll say it anyway -- f-them!!!

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I come from Utah and We say it there. I didnt know they used it in mass until I visited recently. they use it just as much here.chuck

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Wakefield 1971Anything that was really good was wicked pissa!I've since moved to Florida and know I would get srange looks if I said it out loud now. Even my Long Island boyfriend thinks I'm from another planet.

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I love this word. I use it all the time.

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I didn't know there was a different meaning of wicked (as in witch craft) til i looked it up. Im so used to saying thats wikket close or something like that.

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I noticed that when I went from Southeastern Mass (Mansfield) to UMass/Amherst (i.e., Ammerst, nobody says the "H") in the early 90's, nobody out there said "wicked." Now that I've moved to the West Coast (although I'll always have East Coast blood in my veins), I'm purposely trying to bring "wicked" back into my vocabulary, just it's just so frickin' fun to say, and it cracks people up out here. Fun for everyone! :-)

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This is most definitly a Boston word! I've been saying it since before I can remember, and when I visit my boyfriend and all of his friends in New Jersey they all make fun of me for it. I'm proud to say I rep the bahhston accent and all of the words we use here :) sounds somewhat smoother than everything else dontcha think? :P

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Wicked is like... the New England version of 'Bloody'. All purpose intensifier that EVERYONE here uses... and uses a lot... but unless you're a native here you just sound silly saying it.

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Yeah, I don't get it. I grew up in Iowa and we used that term quite a bit in high school and I graduated in 1983. My friends still say it. When I lived in Seattle during the mid 80's thru the mid 90's people used it then. Pete's Brewery in San Antonio, TX started calling their beer "Pete's Wicked Ale" in 1986. Maybe his family is from New England and maybe everyone I ever met had family that came from New England. I've heard it used my whole life as an alternative to the word "cool" and I've never been anywhere north of NYC. What else are you guys claiming to own?

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with a tip o' the hat to word detective Evan Morris:

Etymologists widely agree that the slang use of "wicked" to mean "excellent" (or as a positive intensifier, as in "wicked fast") is indeed native to New England, especially the Boston area, but it has spread widely into other areas of the US since it first became popular in the 1980s.

The use of "wicked" in this ironic sense dates back at least to the 1920s, with the first occurrence in print found so far being in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "This Side of Paradise."

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