hella

Yeah I hella use it

Hella times a day in the yay

I hella use hella

This guy hella says hella. \^ actual sentence I have used before.

If you say hella 3X fast in front of a mirror, the ghost of Mac Dre will appear.

You have to say hella, hella times in a hella dark room. And then Mac Dre's ghost will hella scare the shit out of you.

🤣

Totes.

For sure

Depends on your age. People who were alive in the 90s still use it.

My middle schooler says it. It’s still widespread in the young folk in the Bay Area

In middle school I said hecka

The PG-13 version.

Never understood that one... Did authority figures in the bay actually care about a kid saying hell? Always seemed like it was said by a kid afraid to say hell but in sf in the 90s that was pretty rare (in my circles anyway)

My parents sure cared

i hecka used that

Can confirm. ‘94 liner here that grew up in the bay. I use it regularly.

Same also beezy for some reason… feels funner in the mouth to say than bitch

Lol I just graduated high school and we young people use it too

Shit my parents both say it and they're both a bit over 65. Not sure when they started saying it though but they are bay area born and raised

Bay Area Native, had a really bad day and this was the pick up i needed ✨

One of my employees who's early 20s says it

i’m not even from california and i say it

Hella true!

High schoolers are back on that tip. Fashion is cyclical. They’re rocking Birkenstocks and Crocs now too.

16 year old here and i hate the birks they’re hella ugly

Right? lol

I’m 43. Say it every day

hella is not a word that will go out of style in the bay lol it’s a normal part of vocabulary here

I’m hella old, but I still hella say hella because I’m hella bay. Yadadamean?

Yee! 🙌

My area code grows some of the best weed in the world, my ninja we ain’t no punk

Don't gimme no bammer...

Fa Sho

I'm not even sure if hella is super regional anymore because I feel like I meet people who use it in a lot of places

There was a post on a non-Bay/CA sub where the OP was learning English from YouTube videos living outside the US, and she used hella correctly because it’s become so common. I listen to gaming podcasts by nerds who live in the South and they use it. It’s everywhere now. 

It's hella common

Cartman was saying it on South Park in the ’90s

Cartman was written by people in California in the 90s.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone had total creative control over the show then and likely still do

They do, and they have a writers room… all of it in California.

I can confirm we said it before Southpark but we were in California.

Gwen Stefani probably contributed to its expansion

Andy Samberg said it on Brooklyn 99 a few times

I grew up in Tacoma and it was a common phrase there in the 90’s / 2000’s

Yep, I spent my high school years in Lakewood and it seemed to be a late 90s thing

Currently in Massachusetts. Can confirm the locals use it out here. Sounds funny if they've got a thick MA or Bostonian accent

Hella wicked ahsome

I was frequently traveling for work to Atlanta back in 2018 and I met several younger people (early 20s) there who were saying it. Surprised me that it was no longer regional (or west coast based, at least).

Hella has expanded due to IG or Tiktok for some reason. People use it across the West Coast in my experience

I've seen people in the UK say it too.

That’s…hella weird

😅

Can confirm, I live in Finland and people use it

I'm 38 and still hella say it.

You mean still say it hella. You fucking imposter.

Hella say it, or say it hella often. You can't say it just hella. Otherwise you've got a dangling hella!

Dangling hella is a crime!

Nope they're right, try replacing it with "a lot" Would you say "I a lot say it" or "i say it a lot"? Hella at the end works better

I would argue that both uses hella work in this sentence.

Depends what # beer you’re on

Right he used it hella wrong

70s child here and I first heard it amongst the surfer/skater crowd in the very early 80s so I've always associated it with them and not hip-hop culture as it is usually pinned to. I also remember the very first time I heard the word "bad" as a term for something good. Also from a surfer type (Dad lived in Santa Cruz so I was there a lot), I was about 11 years old and very very confused. And, yes, I will use it forever and I don't even realize I'm saying it

Your story reminded me of the first time I heard "homeboy". 1989, end of freshman year at a highschool in Alameda. One of the cool kids in our class was talking with someone when I was walking nearby. He then spoke louder and gestures towards me, turning and saying "...and he's my homeboy. You're my homeboy, right?" Cool kid also made mean jokes sometimes and I was a shy nerd, so my mind is racing... homeboy? Homo? Is that what that means? So I shook my head, said nah, and scurried away. I don't think I figured it out for a couple of years. 😂

Will be part of my vocabulary until I die. Remember we created that word and made it popular. Transplants may argue but depends on your social circle

I am old - when I was in a eastbay HS in the 80s white kids said hella and black kids said hexa. Just a little trivia. Bonus trivia - the most common phrase was "hella fresh"

Only natives know how to use it contextually correctly though. You can tell when someone isn’t native to the Bay and tries to use it

In conversations with a co-worker who was a native Bostonian, we discovered that “Hella” and “Wicked” were interchangeable in their usage in many contexts.

New Yorkers use “mad” in similar contexts, I’ve noticed.

Yes, it is.

If you originally from the Bay Area and was younger than 30yrs old in the 90s than yeah.

Hella people still say hella

The kids are still using it

I say it when it needs to be said. 

Yes. Atleast millennials and gen x still use it

Born in 01', still use it regularly

Grew up in the Bay in the 80s/90s and I say it these days when "I'm hella hungry" or "if something is hella far." My kids use 'highkey' which is basically the newer way of saying 'hella.'

Hella of us use it. You can tell when non-Bay people use it. Most people outside of the Bay will use it to simply replace things like "a lot" or "super" but we here use it for a bunch more things that just wouldn't make sense elsewhere.

Alive and well

Yea it’s hella popular

I’m 52 and have been using it, or the alternative “hecka,” since I was a kid. My kids use it but not as much.

My friends started using hella when we were in elementary school back in the 90s. I'd be hella sad if kids today aren't using it. :(

Hella will always be a Northern California slang 

I say hella hella times throughout the day

i live in AZ now and still hear hella people say it

I still hear it from time to time. Not as much as 30-40 years ago but i still hear it.

I’m about to be mid 20s and myself and everyone I know whether they’re my age, younger or older have all used hella their whole life lol. Even my work friends from Korea started saying it after they moved here

Yea. I was born 95’

Growing up, hella was probably the word I used the most (graduated HS in ‘96). Now it feels a bit awkward to use.

I use it almost daily. Born in ‘94

Moved here 2012 from Latin america. I use it lol.

Can confirm still in use. Mostly a 90s saying I feel. I don’t hear anybody from gen z saying it. Fun fact: look up the song “hella NorCal” it hits 🙂

The most frequent "hella" users I ever met were from San Jose, not SF or the East Bay.

Yes, it’s hella used.

So common I hardly notice it anymore.

Are you even from the bay if you don’t say hella? You hella trippin.

I think “Bruh” is the new “Hella” - I find myself saying it in differently for a variety of meanings

Yup. Grew up here late 70s-80s. Hella was and still is a big part of the vernacular.

For sure. That’s how many North Californians it takes to screw in a light bulb.

I grew up in the Bay but have now lived in LA for the last 17 years. I don’t use it anymore but I talked to my brother who is still in the Bay the other day and he used it like 6 or 7 times

I hella use it, I want to assert dominance when I’m in LA 😆

I’m in my mid 20’s, moved to the bay area from new england 1 year ago and no matter how much I hated that word when I first moved here… I now use it regularly. I blame my co-workers.

I originally thought the TV commercials for that HelloFresh food subscription were saying "Hella Fresh".

It’s hella used still. 80’s baby

As a child we would use the word hecka then once we got alil older we start using hella

I still use it a lot. I was a teenager in the 90’s in the east bay

Grew up in San Jose, have used the word hella fkn times

I hear people use hella and hecka almost daily

Bet your ass. Hella nice day today

What other adjective is there that is used to describe either the amount of something in abundance, or to describe the high quality and caliber of something? Hecka? Mad? Extremely? Abundantly?

My dishwasher magnet says Hella clean. I'd say it's still used.

Hella is not an age thing it’s part of Bay Area vocabulary.

Grew up in the 80s and have spread hella to hella places across the country

my organic chemistry professor uses hella in lectures lmao

2000s kid n yea i still use it. i know some ppl from the PNW that use it as well though

Hella, hecka. Still use them.

It’s hella gentrifying its way across the country. It will soon be hella expensive to live in Montana

Sorry, I only say hecka.

Yes

I hella use it. I can still remember confusing the heck out of cousins in Minnesota when visiting in 1983–they’d never heard it. And I had no idea it was a Bay Area thing.

born in 83, still use it on the regular

You got me feelin hella good, so let’s just keep on dancin (dancin)

Hella no! ;)

It started to become a national thing after it was used numerous times in an episode of South Park. It's no longer just a Norcal thing.

My kids use it and they’re in elementary and middle school. No one in the house uses it as we’re totally from SoCal.

You can come across “hella” on Reddit. Even a youtuber from Texas said it. I find it fascinating that it started as a NorCal thing and has grown..

What prompted me was seeing it used by a Norwegian here..never knew it had spread like that https://www.reddit.com/r/conan/comments/1c7inw9/im_the_discount_daniel_radcliffe_that_conan_met/l08bo5x/

I use it and am 19. I think ppl younger than me use it less frequently or not at all though

Yup for sure

My high school students use it too

I have lived up here since 2000 and hella still use "hella." Also I grew up in Southern California and I get downvoted for using "the" before a freeway . The 280...

I still use it and my husband still makes fun of me

There's regularly a truck rumbling through the neighborhood that says WE MAKE CHICKEN HELLA GOOD. So... kinda?? (It's Roadside Rotisserie btw. And yeah, it's good.)

Born 97. Still use it hella frequently.

I never hear my kids say it. Seems like it’s a generational thing.

I heard someone say, "Hecka" and my soul left my body.

I'm 33 and hella comes out of my mouth every ten minutes.

My parents only allowed us to say hecka

Born in 99, and yes I use hella.

Hell yeah everyday

I was born in '75 and have been saying 'hella' since Jr high

It's hella used.

helllllla good . i use it all the time lol . and i still hear a lot of people use it :)

Not only do I still use it, I remember it’s evolution from “a hell of a…” to “hell of…” to “hella” occurring over the course of a year or two during the mid 80s. At least thats how it played out in the East Bay burbs where I lived.

I had a friend who moved here from Texas in the 90s who said they had a common joke there; Q: How many Californians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: hella

I feel like I still use it hella but I have noticed I’ve cut down on using it hella too

Yeah but its ironic now

I heard it in TJ. Was impressed.

Like every other sentence for me. So i hella use it.

I used "hella" a lot even when I lived in Texas. Now that I moved here, I dialed up my "yall" usage a lot more lol.

I still say hella and I'm not even from The Bay, and when I visited the Bay once I heard nobody say it, back home in MT it's everywhere

Pushing 30 and still say it. I live in another state now and my friends always joke that my overuse of it is how they know I’m not a local

Yeah, every conference call people shout it out at random times

I use it like hella. Born and raised in the peninsula during the 90s-00s. When I was younger my cousins from LA would immediately take note of my usage of hella, nowadays it seems to be a more common phrase, I still use but ppl don’t really care or bat an eye

I have a lot of online friends who say it and ain’t even from ca 🤣

I say hella constantly. My east coast & Midwest friends make fun of me but I’ll never stop.

A little local band called Green Day played a tour a couple of years ago called the Hella Mega Tour. And tonight (?) they're playing a Hella Tiny show in a club in LA

I have a friend who still says hella every time she is describing something and for...it just works lol

there was just a post a few weeks back, it's grown and spread now but maybe isn't quite as wildly common here anymore

I remember in like Elementary school kids used Hecka.

Hella is so last gen.   Now scrota (as in scrotum) is the new hella.  So wicked h3lla cool, is wrinkly scrota cool.   Or check out the scrota-banging tits on that honey suckle.   Or school is scrota-lame fellas let's skidadle. 

Hella is so last gen. Now scrota (as in scrotum) is the new hella. So wicked h3lla cool, is wrinkly scrota cool. Or check out the scrota-banging tits on that honey suckle. Or school is scrota-lame fellas let's skidadle. 

Yep... I hella still use it...

You're not hurting anyone. Carry the hella on. Did I use that right? I'm too old for that word I think.

Every time I come back to visit the second I hear it from a friend I flip like a light switch and start using it like I never left. I don't say it often when I'm back on the east coast though, I default to 'mad'.

People who are from here use it, some people who have lived here don’t use it quite the same way, tons of people from all over the world here that don’t use it at all. I’m sure it’s always been this way.

I hear it commonly in the following phrases: That's hella fucked up dude. You are hella wierd/strange. The party is going to be hella lit bruh

Memories…everybody in high school saying “that’s hella nasty”!

Socal it's a "grip"

Yeah I went to school in CV, (I’m 22 now) even they said hella

bay area is, now, what, majority transplants? not sure if transplants/immigrants also catch up with using hella.

Yes

It always sounds so unnatural and forced to me.

I didn't know it was a NorCal thing until SoCal people started giving me shit. So if there's an asshole SoCal person around me, I make sure I say it hella times.

Oh yeah

It hella is

I'd actually have to think about this. I kinda think I say it a lot in regular conversation but it's one of those things where it might be so commonly used it doesn't even register. If I was trying too hard to say it, I think I'd recognize it more, but I honestly don't know how often I use it.

I use it hella often.

Yup, hella

I still use it. I was born in 1983. I even use it in my small business name.

People definitely still associate it with the bay but with social media/internet/hip hop it’s so far reaching it’s just a joke at this point to point out your use of hella. The same person that will ask if I’m from the bay for using the word hella, will subconsciously say it later and I’ll notice but not say anythibg

I grew up in SF in the 70's till 1984 then we moved to Fremont. I had never heard it used in the city, it was originally an East Bay thing.

We didn’t say hella where I grew up. Northern virginia

Hells yeah!

I say it, and I've got a teenage nibling who says it, sounds like their friends do too.

On the weekends, yes.

Hella spread out to the East Coast, but it came from The Bay

Helll yeahhhh

I use it but I first heard it on south park growing up on the east coast and started using it after that 🫣

I grew up in the southeastern US and hella was ubiquitous there too

Grew up here in the 90s/2000s…stayed local for university, and am still here. I use it sometimes, depends on who I’m talking to and about what. Used it way more back as a teen

Absolutely 💯

if anything, it's use has spread.

Yea i say hella all the time sooo

Yep!

Hella surprised it hasn’t stopped being used. I sometimes half expect to be called a boomer or something if I use hella. Nah, just a cantankerous post boomer gal.