A wicked wicked question
By adamg - Tue, 09/18/2007 - 12:56pm.
In a discussion on candlepin bowling, John Smith wonders:
I love the Boston area language. Especially the use of the word wicked. I'm from Nova Scotia Canada and we have our share of odd language up here. But my question is this. I know wicked can be tagged on to almost anything...wicked awesome, wicked good, wicked bad etc... My question is this can wicked be combined with wicked to describe something that's super-wicked? Like could I say "that was wicked wicked"? or is one wicked as good as it gets?
Go Patriots.
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That's a wicked pissah
That's a wicked pissah question.
No
Yup, it is wicked pissah, but the answer is no. You can not increase the "wicked"ness of something by adding another wicked. It just doesn't work. Well… then again… maybe. "My Dunkin Donuts reg was wicked, wicked good this morning." But it doesn't really add to the "wicked"ness though. At least I don't think so.
I agree. It can stand alone
I agree. It can stand alone "That was wicked!" but can't be used to modify itself.
One's really all you need anyway, otherwise you've gotta add rules and corollaries and everything'll get wicked complicated.
depends on the usage
Wicked, uses the Bostonian way, is stictly as an adverb, a synonym of "very" or "really."
Correct: adverb- "The Pats looked wicked good on Sunday."
When used as an adjective, wicked resumes its traditional meaning of "evil."
So, yes, "very malificent" could also be stated as "wicked wicked."
I hear ya
Eileen, that brought back a random memory of making the same argument myself to a teacher when I was a kid. I thought "wicked wicked" should mean "very evil" in the context of discussing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
I thought (and had some classroom support, as I recall) that if the Wicked Witch of the West was worse than the other witches, than we should be able to call her a wicked wicked witch. "That one witch was wicked wicked!"
I don't think this usage exists outside of very "bookish" children though...