June 14, 2002

8:32 AM

"I could hella be a gigolo." Have you ever eavesdropped on a conversation and heard one part that was so bizarre that you had to share it with others? Welcome to "In Passing", a daily chronicle of overheard snippets of conversations.
posted by ColdChef (44 comments total)

That is a funny site. Not to derail though, but when did this "hella" saying start? I feel so out of the loop on this one. Anyone know who or where is started?
posted by cowboy at 8:38 AM on June 14, 2002

South Park, I think. Suh-weet, huh?
posted by y2karl at 8:39 AM on June 14, 2002

Dating myself - http://glassdog.com/overheard/

Yes, it's been a while.
posted by jmackin at 8:46 AM on June 14, 2002

South Park, I think.

Err, no. People have been saying 'hella' in the Pacific Northwest for at least six or seven years now, long before the advent of Eric Cartman.
posted by Danelope at 8:47 AM on June 14, 2002

"I think corporations should be... forced to hire sensitive people.
(A woman walking down Bancroft st)"

I love this. Wonderful material. Thanks, ColdChef.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:47 AM on June 14, 2002

The first time I heard "hella" was on a city bus in San Francisco in 1992. I think it was firmly entrenched way before that though.
posted by anathema at 8:48 AM on June 14, 2002

Also see Glassdog's Overheard, which ran from 1997 or so to 2000
posted by mathowie at 8:49 AM on June 14, 2002

I think San Francisco is the only place I've ever heard "hella" non-ironically. It's a pretty versatile modifier; it can be used to replace "lots", "very", "many", "totally", and hella more words. See, there you go.

I saw someone say "hecka" and then "heck of" and I thought that was pretty clever.
posted by Succa at 8:51 AM on June 14, 2002

She asked:
Spinal Tap? What is that all about?

He explained:
It's a movie, cult-type movie.

She observed:
People in the occult are weird. Why would you ever want to watch someone getting a Spinal Tap done?

That's so funny it hurts.
posted by ColdChef at 8:53 AM on June 14, 2002

Metallica used the word "hella" with respect to the "Garage Days Re-revisited" EP. I don't know if it was in the liner notes, but the t-shirt had some text on the back, and the first two sentences are:

After coming off the 'Puppets' tour in Feb. 87, we needed a place to jam and ended up in a fancy, so-called "real" rehearsal studio. IT HELLA SUCKED!

This EP was released in 1987. I remember seeing this shirt in middle school and thinking that "hella" was one of the dumbest words I'd ever seen. Not so much anymore, although I think I've only used it maybe 2 or 3 times.
posted by starvingartist at 8:55 AM on June 14, 2002

wasn't there also a site called onetimewemadeoutinatreeandthisoldguywatchedus.com or something like that? I seem to remember it had a similar theme.

Please tell me someone knows what the hell I'm talking about and I didn't make that up.
posted by remlapm at 9:03 AM on June 14, 2002

remlapm:

Oh, yeah.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:10 AM on June 14, 2002

You made that up and you know it, remlapm. ;) [I remember it too. In fact, I might have linked to it here on MetaFilter... Yep, early Alzheimers' and Korean defeat now taking their combined toll.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:12 AM on June 14, 2002

See? *sigh*
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:13 AM on June 14, 2002

Yeah, that's the one.
posted by remlapm at 9:23 AM on June 14, 2002

"I really wish you would STOP saying that word that you keep saying."
--Man, to his female companion outside the movie theatre
"I wonder if he's talking about 'hella?'"
--A friend, musing as we passed by
2 June 2000
posted by ColdChef at 9:33 AM on June 14, 2002

This person is in the Bay Area. AC Transit is the East Bay bus system. South Park is a trendy park in San Francisco that became very popular during the dot-com boom. Raleighs is a GREAT bar and restaurant on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley. Always good for people watching, and apparently, listening.

"Hella" is a very California saying from the 80's.
posted by aacheson at 9:38 AM on June 14, 2002

I had one of these encounters with strange conversations on my answering machine. Apparently someone had the wrong number, and called and left a series of voice mails during a blind date, which apparently had been set up by the person they thought they were calling.

I can't do the accent in text, but imagine if you will, in the first call, there was the sound of traffic, in the second, the sounds of a restaurant and in the third, the sounds of a very loud hiphop club. The caller is female.

First message went something like this: "Ah-ight, I'm out in the parking lot and I don't see no BMW...whatchu say he supposed to be driving? Maybe I'm just early, I'm going to go in and wait, but I ain't waiting for long....specially if he comes draggin in in some nasty old ford." Click.

Second message: "Yeah, so he's here...did you really think he was good looking? This boy looks like something the dog dragged across the street before it gets buried. I'll get you for this." Click.

Third message: "Ok, you know what? This boy ain't right. He just ain't right. He thinks he's a player, but the boy wouldn't be allowed out for recess...that's what I'm saying. You just wrong for setting me up with this one. I know where you live...you just wrong for doing this to me. Don't think I won't remember. I know you at home too, just ignoring your phone. I'm coming over there and I'm bringing this raggedy ass joke with me, you keep him." Click.

That was the last message. I laughed so hard, then had to play the messages for all my friends. OMG, I so wish you guys could hear it...tre hysterical.
posted by dejah420 at 9:44 AM on June 14, 2002

Err, no. People have been saying 'hella' in the Pacific Northwest for at least six or seven years now, long before the advent of Eric Cartman.

The hella, you say--I never heard it before South Park, and I've been here since 1967.
posted by y2karl at 10:14 AM on June 14, 2002

Not to totally get distracted here, but I gotta pipe in that "hella" is not a Pacific Northwest-ism. It's San Francisco all the way.

I said it, briefly, when I lived in SF six years ago. When I moved back to Seattle, it was beaten out of me by angry friends who's ears started bleeding whenever they heard the word.

[Great site, by the way! Reminds me of some of Mighty Girl's "overheards."]
posted by arielmeadow at 10:22 AM on June 14, 2002

y2karl, you're clearly hanging out with the wrong people. (Or maybe right, depending on your point of view, I suppose)
posted by ookamaka at 10:22 AM on June 14, 2002

y2karl, you're clearly hanging out with the wrong people. (Or maybe right, depending on your point of view, I suppose)
posted by ookamaka at 10:24 AM on June 14, 2002

ROTFL dejah420!

Yes, women are evil....
posted by rushmc at 10:26 AM on June 14, 2002

The first time I heard "hella" was in Turkey in 1974. It was from a young lady who had moved there from Japan without passing through SF or the Pacific Northwest. Those still might be the sources (I was not talking to her with etymology in mind), but the word definitely predates South Park or the other cites in this thread.
posted by joaquim at 10:42 AM on June 14, 2002

Much thanks for the "hella" history lesson. And here I was thinking that it was all new and I wasn't hip to it. Seems to be much older than expected and I'm still not hip. Nothing changes. (mea culpa for the continued derailment)
posted by cowboy at 10:48 AM on June 14, 2002

"hella" (and the lesser-used "hell of") has also been used in the northern california surfing (waves, not web) community since the seventies, possibly even earlier.
posted by modge at 10:54 AM on June 14, 2002

(and what cowboy said - mea culpa mea culpa. as you were!)
posted by modge at 10:56 AM on June 14, 2002

teenaged girl A- You know who I used to think was a bitch?

teenaged girl B - Who?

teenaged girl A - Everyone.
posted by pigasus at 11:37 AM on June 14, 2002

"Watch it, now. There's enough soda here that I could afford to pour some down your pants."

I think I now officially have a new motto.
posted by UncleFes at 12:15 PM on June 14, 2002

NYC-centric version. The most recent couple are not the best of the lot, so ya know.
posted by hackly_fracture at 12:58 PM on June 14, 2002

I remember Cynthia on Real World-Miami using the word "hella" a lot. That was the first time I heard it.
posted by SisterHavana at 2:11 PM on June 14, 2002

My freshman roommate (from Lafayette, CA) used to say "hella" every third word. This would have been 1990. I was ready to kill him by week 3...
posted by jalexei at 2:31 PM on June 14, 2002

I'm gonna bookmark this thread as a perfect example of why you should never use the phrase "Not to derail [the thread] but..."

"Hella" my ass...
posted by ColdChef at 2:42 PM on June 14, 2002

Oh hella, ColdChef, don't be mad. I think In Passing is a great site, but I thought everyone already knew about it. You did those who didn't know about it a great service by posting the link.
posted by joaquim at 3:07 PM on June 14, 2002

Nearly two years ago, I overheard someone in line at the grocery store say, "I always buy the ribbed kind...and turn 'em inside out for my pleasure!"
posted by Danelope at 3:14 PM on June 14, 2002

Hang on, I know This Is Spinal Tap was a mock/comedy documentary.. but I thought Spinal Tap were a real band, right?
posted by wackybrit at 3:42 PM on June 14, 2002

I remember Cynthia on Real World-Miami using the word "hella" a lot. That was the first time I heard it.

I was going to mention the same thing -- of course, thinking about it, Cynthia is from the Bay Area. (Oakland, I believe.) Makes sense.
posted by Dreama at 4:00 PM on June 14, 2002

Dejah420, Oh. My. God. I haven't laughed that hard in a loooooong time. I'm coming over there and I'm bringing this raggedy ass joke with me, you keep him." Click. I swear to god.....


I heard this argument between two women in the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley (a very swanky hotel, mind you.) A woman bumps into another and doesn't say "excuse me." The one she bumped into says something under her breath that sounds a lot like "bitch." The husband of the woman who bumped her says "Did you call my wife a bitch?" and the other replies "I didn't call her a bitch, I called her a HO!"
I died. Really.
posted by aacheson at 4:17 PM on June 14, 2002

Hi, I'm back.

Just this week, I passed by two cabbies on Bermuda chatting on a street in Hamilton. One says to the other "I'm driving a cab, and she asks me if I live on the Island!" I had been wondering what they really think about all the tourists.

And Spinal Tap is now a real band like the Monkees became a real band.
posted by yhbc at 8:05 PM on June 14, 2002

Spinal Tap is now a real band because if they don't perform every so many years, they lose the right to be the band. (The band name reverts to a non-band-member, can't remember if it's Rob Reiner or who.)
posted by kindall at 10:44 PM on June 14, 2002

"You what? You want me to pee on you? Are you high?"
-Woman at a pay phone in a resturant.
posted by homunculus at 11:22 PM on June 14, 2002

I think In Passing is a great site

...a hella great site...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:10 AM on June 15, 2002

hella is one of those words that makes my skin crawl.

words like "kewl", "aight", and "prolly" are the same. and if you use them all in the same sentence, you should be killed outright:

it's prolly hella kewl, aight?
posted by bwg at 5:19 AM on June 16, 2002

My two favorites...

Hear walking around Green Lake, ten years ago, between two women:

I taught my cat to be a vegetarian!

Heard on Capitol Hill, three years ago, between two men:

And now, let's go get your butt tattooed!

Niow there's a tag line for UncleFes...

As for grammar, shouldn't it be

I could be a hella gigolo?
posted by y2karl at 7:25 AM on June 16, 2002