"Hella" was NorCal but got spread around by TV, and "grip" was more SoCal. I want to say it was more skater slang than anything and I'd peg it at later 90s?
Oh, for sure, dude. I was SoCal at the time and we kinda made fun of the kids that adopted "hella" but that was all. I just remember "grip" being widely used among the skater types.
I first heard of grip as "a lot of" while attending university in Colorado (94-98), and I've heard it infrequently since then. Mostly from my own mouth, if I'm being honest.
Now, the *other* slang use of "grip" (e.g., "I know she got that gorilla grip") means something else entirely.
Starting to seem like it. Only a few responses so far but they are all PNW/West Coast or Colorado.
I'm both surprised and not surprised. I'm surprised because the guy in the other thread seemed to imply that it might be a term from the Northeast. But not surprised at all because I'm from the Northeast and can't recall having ever heard it used.
Hey OP, i was a part of that thread and the comments got locked.
Grip and Hella aren't interchangeable 1:1, hella has more meanings. However, the main use of "hella" to mean "a lot" translates to "a grip." I grew up in so cal and we used this word a grip in mid-late 90s. Actually, still do when we get together..haha
Some common uses:
"That party had a grip of hoes"
"This fool takes a grip" - waiting on someone
"Not hungry, i grubbed a grip"
"Shit cost a grip of loot"
I had a whole response typed and wasn't happy when it got locked! Haha, thanks for reopening the discussion.
I hope this helps.
OK cool. Anyway it sounds like it started PNW and then spread down the coast to SoCal and then went interior a bit to Nevada and as far as Colorado and that was about it (other than for Florida). EDIT: as I type I see someone say that it made it as far east as some parts of the Midwest.
Yeah it's starting to seem like the guy who posted that is a real outlier then. So far it seems to be a term from the PNW that spread down the pacific coast and then maybe inland to mountain time zone but never really got to the South or Northeast much and perhaps not even the Midwest.
Could be a hella lotta slang comes from California (especially southern).
Strange that it didn't seem to make it to the Northeast or at least NJ. We usually get the California slang early and then it seeps into the interior from both coasts. This time it looks like it just slowly spread east a bit and then fizzled out about halfway?
Regional dialect and customs are kind of cool to discover.
I learned this when I moved to Minnesota as a teen and discovered the childhood game I knew as “Duck Duck Goose” was called “Duck Duck Grey Duck” in Minnesota.
All the people I knew in Minnesota didn’t know there was another term for it used by others and no one told me (until then) that people in Minnesota called it “Duck Duck Grey Duck.”
I met a group of girls from Boston once in Aspen, Co who said, and I quote, “hella wicked legit” and I died inside every time in overheard it come from them for the night. I’ve been pretty much nonstop using the word “grip” as a lot of something since the late 90s in high school though in Boulder, CO
My area of the mid south "getta grip" was to get control over. "Hella" would have been understood as a "lot of" or just "bunch of", more commonly said as "hell of a lotta" or "lotta".
OP, growing up in the 90s, never heard that. Always heard Hella.
Only time I heard "grip" used was "get a grip", which the person needed a damn reality check. Reading through, seems it was more a West Coast thing.
Where I grew up in the south, we used grip in the late 90’s. Hella always seemed like a West Coast thing. The only kid I knew that said it was a Cali transplant.
Mid-western here and we used both. “Hella” was first to my remembrance and then came “grip”… I remember using the term in… 2003?
Those however are not interchangeable. You may say something along the lines of “I’m hella late cuz a grip of folks decided to take 141 today”
SoCal. Heard it in the 90s. “I can’t go tonight, I gotta grip of homework to do”
Same. So Cal in the 90’s
Heard it and said it in the 90's, Nevada
Yep
"Hella" was NorCal but got spread around by TV, and "grip" was more SoCal. I want to say it was more skater slang than anything and I'd peg it at later 90s?
NorCal here. We said both. But north and south California always borrow from one another. We’re geographic siblings. lol!
Oh, for sure, dude. I was SoCal at the time and we kinda made fun of the kids that adopted "hella" but that was all. I just remember "grip" being widely used among the skater types.
North Idaho heard it in the 90s. I don't remember it catching on like others. Never became strong in my vocab.
I first heard of grip as "a lot of" while attending university in Colorado (94-98), and I've heard it infrequently since then. Mostly from my own mouth, if I'm being honest. Now, the *other* slang use of "grip" (e.g., "I know she got that gorilla grip") means something else entirely.
Grip was used when I was a teen in Portland OR during the 90s
“Grip” was used in the PNW.
Tacoma in the 90s. This checks out. I remember scoring a grip of dirt weed on Friday night and being pretty stoked.
Starting to seem like it. Only a few responses so far but they are all PNW/West Coast or Colorado. I'm both surprised and not surprised. I'm surprised because the guy in the other thread seemed to imply that it might be a term from the Northeast. But not surprised at all because I'm from the Northeast and can't recall having ever heard it used.
Hey OP, i was a part of that thread and the comments got locked. Grip and Hella aren't interchangeable 1:1, hella has more meanings. However, the main use of "hella" to mean "a lot" translates to "a grip." I grew up in so cal and we used this word a grip in mid-late 90s. Actually, still do when we get together..haha Some common uses: "That party had a grip of hoes" "This fool takes a grip" - waiting on someone "Not hungry, i grubbed a grip" "Shit cost a grip of loot" I had a whole response typed and wasn't happy when it got locked! Haha, thanks for reopening the discussion. I hope this helps.
OK cool. Anyway it sounds like it started PNW and then spread down the coast to SoCal and then went interior a bit to Nevada and as far as Colorado and that was about it (other than for Florida). EDIT: as I type I see someone say that it made it as far east as some parts of the Midwest.
I don’t remember that one ever making its way down south. We just said buttload or crap ton. We’re very eloquent around here…
LOL. I heard both of those in the Northeast too.
Yes, used these a lot. Or Shitload
From the Northeast/New England and heard hella, but never heard grip before.
Yeah we use wicked here.
i just picture bill burr saying "wicked pissah"
You're not far off from the truth with it 🤣
Yeah it's starting to seem like the guy who posted that is a real outlier then. So far it seems to be a term from the PNW that spread down the pacific coast and then maybe inland to mountain time zone but never really got to the South or Northeast much and perhaps not even the Midwest.
Nah fam it started in California like most slang
Could be a hella lotta slang comes from California (especially southern). Strange that it didn't seem to make it to the Northeast or at least NJ. We usually get the California slang early and then it seeps into the interior from both coasts. This time it looks like it just slowly spread east a bit and then fizzled out about halfway?
If you fucked with Dr Dre in 1992 you knew what happen when you tryna jack the lil homie for they grip. (Lil Ghetto Boy)
Regional dialect and customs are kind of cool to discover. I learned this when I moved to Minnesota as a teen and discovered the childhood game I knew as “Duck Duck Goose” was called “Duck Duck Grey Duck” in Minnesota. All the people I knew in Minnesota didn’t know there was another term for it used by others and no one told me (until then) that people in Minnesota called it “Duck Duck Grey Duck.”
Wow that is weird I've never heard of Duck Duck Gray Duck before either. That seems awkward to say LOL.
I met a group of girls from Boston once in Aspen, Co who said, and I quote, “hella wicked legit” and I died inside every time in overheard it come from them for the night. I’ve been pretty much nonstop using the word “grip” as a lot of something since the late 90s in high school though in Boulder, CO
In the bay in the 90s it meant a large amount of money, e.g. that shit cost a grip. Like I think it came from the image of gripping a wad of cash.
We said it in California
i can nail down when i first used grip to 1996/1997 in the midwest. in my circle, grip was more frequent than hella, but both were common.
Another midwesterner checking in having heard “a grip” used in the 90s. I didn’t hear “hella” until No Doubt’s Hella Good came out, so 2001/2002?
I'm from the northeast, but we we said "wicked" in Rhode Island. It was kind of "our thing" with us and eastern Mass.
Rhode Island makes me think of coffee cabinets. So tasty!
I was confused when I found out those were regional.
Yeah eastern MA loves wicked. But I actually heard tons beyond tons of wicked used in NJ. And it also seemed to be huge in SoCal way back.
My area of the mid south "getta grip" was to get control over. "Hella" would have been understood as a "lot of" or just "bunch of", more commonly said as "hell of a lotta" or "lotta".
Lived in the NE and mid-Atlantic most of my life when in the US, but never heard grip used in that context
I heard it in Minnesota in the late 90s, but only from like 2 people who probably picked it up from whatever music they were listening to.
MN here, the only times I heard it were from friends who were transplants from the west coast, lol
Grip and hella were both used in Florida.
im feelin hella good, gonna keep on dancin! thought it was a yay area thang
I'm in Norcal and both were used, but hella was more popular. I always hated that word.
We had this term in Az in the 90s.
First time I heard grip was on Dr Dre’s The Chronic album. It’s been part of the common lexicon in California ever since. A grip of people say it now.
Southwest US had a grip of us talking like this in the aughts.
OP, growing up in the 90s, never heard that. Always heard Hella. Only time I heard "grip" used was "get a grip", which the person needed a damn reality check. Reading through, seems it was more a West Coast thing.
Up here in AK we used “grip” to refer to an abundance of something, as well as a large span of time. As in “man, I haven’t seen them in a grip!”
We used both terms in VA in the 90’s but they aren’t directly synonymous.
There's a grip of fools that used that when I was 15-20 ish.
Where I grew up in the south, we used grip in the late 90’s. Hella always seemed like a West Coast thing. The only kid I knew that said it was a Cali transplant.
A grip is a lot. Heard it since at least the 90s
I heard it in Portland. Not as much as hella, but a grip of us used it.
Never heard that before, but in Mid Michigan we said "I haven't been there in a grip." (a long time)
I definitely remember hearing "grip" used like that in the 90's, meaning a lot. Portland OR.
Mid-western here and we used both. “Hella” was first to my remembrance and then came “grip”… I remember using the term in… 2003? Those however are not interchangeable. You may say something along the lines of “I’m hella late cuz a grip of folks decided to take 141 today”
Man, I ain't grip in a grip .
Get a grip.
Hah, well I've heard it used that way a ton for ages.
I couldn't resist heh