There is a TV commercial here that markets a brand of „alcopops” called „W.K.D” showing how drinkers do all sorts of pranks to emphasize the „evil” influence. No price to guess sales for `W.K.D` is withdrawn. Sometimes adverbial evil bleeds across the New York border: When it means „evil,” evil sometimes comes with the connotation of being smart and sneaky: where there`s a lot of sunshine, I think people must be very good. They`re just mean people who love the dark. And bad things are always done and planned in the dark, I think. Maybe that`s why I hate mysterious things – things I can`t see, that happen in the dark. Frank Norris, The Octopus: A Story of California, 1901 Grew up in Springfield in the `70s and `80s and it was rare to hear evil. It was a Boston affair. Smart villain means: A term used to refer to someone who is above average in Boston or in the crowd.
This term is mainly used to refer to people with knowledge of random things. (in the community dictionary, added by Remora) A variant of Middle English wicke, wicked retains the last syllable that we hear in other endings, such as blessed and cursed, and that we don`t hear in words that seem to rhyme with evil, such as licked or picked. „Absolute genius. I see everything. The hero calls Gridley Quayle, and this condescending donkey solves the mystery with the help of a series of evil coincidences; And here I am, with another month of work. P.G. Wodehouse, Something New, 1915 The adjective can have meanings as diverse as „morally evil” (as in witches and mothers-in-law), „wild or vicious” (an evil dog), „lazy or unpleasant” (an evil stench), or „likely to cause harm or distress” (an evil storm). Almost everything in Kate Walbert`s new novel is damn clever, starting with the title: „A Brief History of Women.” Leah Hager Cohen, The New York Times Book Review, June 14, 2009 In New Hampshire, where I grew up and whose accent I love the most, we intouse the word evil, when we use it. Yes, we use it adverbially, but intonation is important. If you don`t intoxicate WICKED in front of cool, awesome, dark, thank you, kind, whatever the adjective, then it`s a waste of a regional expression.
The folks at the Sportsman`s Alliance of Maine (SAM) and the Maine Snowmobile Association were upset by a fold in the state`s agreement to acquire the spectacular land around Lake Katahdin and connect it to Baxter Park. In the East, December 2006 „It`s damn competitive,” said Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who once served on United Airlines` board of directors and actively recruited new airlines for Logan. Scott McCartney, The Wall Street Journal, February 27, 2014 However, if you live in the Northeast, evil could mean something completely different to you. In this particular part of the country, evil is generally recognized as its own adverb of strengthening, meaning „to an extreme or impressive degree”: although this usage is not exclusive to the Northeast, it has developed an association so strong that it infiltrates representations of this region – especially the eastern part of New England – and its culture. The New Partridge Dictionary of American Slang calls adverbial evil „[a] rare case of late C20 American slang that has remained regional.” One possible interpretation is that adverbial evil was a literal extension of its adjective meaning – something that was quickly bad, for example, could have been so bad that it seemed to be the result of a curse or supernatural force. „They were fucking excited. Everyone was forming a group, and everyone was clapping in the restaurant, and people were looking around, how, what`s going on? It was damn cool. Carolyn Nichols, quoted in The Ithacan (Ithaca College, NY), April 5, 2017 On the other side of the pond, „evil” often means something neat or excellent. Most often seen in the Harry Potter series, children often say „It`s bad” when they`re excited or excited.
This meaning also prevailed in the rest of the United States. I grew up in Beverly, MA in the 60s. Something cool could be called bally (it wasn`t considered a dirty word, even for a 4-year-old), a little cooler was mean, usually he would yell, „Oh Whicked! But even better was the exclamation: „That`s Whicked Ballsy!” Hairwoman tells us that in the seventies, they cancelled school for an entire week because of the energy crisis. It was incredibly cold and would have cost too much to heat the school. Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak [Located in Syracuse, N.Y.], 1999 Another sense of evil means „of exceptional quality or degree.” He often carries the suggestion of being so impressive or unbelievable that he confuses: the Mud Hens had a roster spot, and the scout had the idea to fill it with the pitcher with the evil curveball named Earl Grayson. Jerry Spinelli, Maniac Magee, 1990 Believe it or not, I couldn`t come up with a consensus regarding the etymology of this New England word. According to Merriam-Webster, the traditional use of „evil” for „bad” dates back to the 13th century, perhaps as a variant of Middle English vetch or Old English Wicca. Wow, witches! The dictionary website postulates that modern incarnation, on the other hand, may have come from the ancient practice of attributing intense quality to „a curse or supernatural force,” as in „Dood, It`s Evil Hot Today, Like Satan`s Gaping Maw!” A strange rumor is that Salem city officials invented the use to promote tourism and reverse the meaning of the word to change the castle`s reputation in the witch trials. Okay, J.D., here`s the best I have: Year Zero was 1942, and former Mayor James Michael Curley ran for the U.S. House of Representatives. But his campaign has been crippled by his hot affair with Margaret Hamilton, who is still hot from her role as the evil witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.
After leaving his Hollywood lover, the naughty king won the victory, thanks to the support of Cardinal O`Connell, who exclaimed, „Our wicked man has become evil good!” And the rest is local slang. Of course, if you decide to breathe in some of my brain-cracking warm air, then I have a Longfellow bridge to sell you. They used the villain that way in parts of the Lower East of Maine when I came here in 1969.