Northern California Slang
HELLA is a slang word used by people living in Northern California or "NorCal" for short. While it is heard in other parts of Northern California, it is most commonly heard in the San Francisco Bay Area where it originated. Most Southern Californians do not use the word "hella”, so it helps distinguish Northern Californians from Southern Californians. Though, the Southern California band No Doubt (Orange County) used the word in their song "Hella Good".
The term "A Kelly" was common soon after the slang term "Betty" was popularized in Southern California. Especially in the East Bay and Oakland, the term "Kelly" is used to describe a "hot girl" who is considered low maintenance. A "Kelly" essentially looks good coming and going, day or night, in sweats or in the hottest dress. The term was used in the XBox game A Pimp RPG where the main character Big Daddy K first meets up with Trixie and says "Whoa, you know what you go there? That's a Kelly. She ain't never gonna disappoint."
Read more about this topic: California Slang
Famous quotes containing the words northern, california and/or slang:
“Warmest climes but nurse the cruelest fangs: the tiger of Bengal crouches in spiced groves of ceaseless verdure. Skies the most effulgent but basket the deadliest thunders: gorgeous Cuba knows tornadoes that never swept tame northern lands.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Resorts advertised for waitresses, specifying that they “must appear in short clothes or no engagement.” Below a Gospel Guide column headed, “Where our Local Divines Will Hang Out Tomorrow,” was an account of spirited gun play at the Bon Ton. In Jeff Winney’s California Concert Hall, patrons “bucked the tiger” under the watchful eye of Kitty Crawhurst, popular “lady” gambler.”
—Administration in the State of Colo, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“It is a mass language only in the same sense that its baseball slang is born of baseball players. That is, it is a language which is being molded by writers to do delicate things and yet be within the grasp of superficially educated people. It is not a natural growth, much as its proletarian writers would like to think so. But compared with it at its best, English has reached the Alexandrian stage of formalism and decay.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)