hella

The term hella, as aforementioned herein, indeed originated in NorCal (some would speculate San Francisco, to be exact), yet 'hella' essentially derived from the phrase "hell of a" as in: "I've got a hell of a headache." Or: "That's a hell of a hike from here to there." Thus, throughout time, the phrase "hell of a" inevitably condensed to "hella" as we so frequently hear it used today.

"Yo! The new Tech N9ne album is HELLA tight!"

Cite source: I was present & used the term "hell of a" as the phrase developed during its evolution into "hella." I really have never used "hella" as it's more of a younger generation term. One of my friends from years gone by, however, did used the term during its evolution period which came out as "helluv" (hell of w/o the "a") before "hella" fully caught on. He'd say stuff like, "That's helluv cool!" Quite unique, the evolution of the American English language, wouldn'tcha say?! ;) ~slangity-slang-she-bop!

Cheers! :)

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