Points for creativity, but I’d rather blame the Oscar-winning movie Good Will Hunting. Whoa, witches! The dictionary’s website posits that the modern incarnation, meanwhile, may stem from the old practice of crediting an intense quality to “a curse or supernatural force,” as in “Dood, it’s wicked hot today, like Satan’s gaping maw!” One weird rumor is that Salem city officials devised the usage to promote tourism, turning the word’s meaning around to transform the burg’s witch-trial reputation. According to Merriam-Webster, the traditional use of “wicked” for “bad” dates to the 13th century, perhaps as an alteration of the Middle English wicke or the Old English wicca. Of course, if you choose to inhale any of my harebrained hot air, then I’ve got a Longfellow Bridge to sell you.īelieve it or not, I could find no consensus when it comes to the etymology of this New England word. Once the Rascal King dumped his Hollywood mistress, he swept to victory, thanks to an endorsement from Cardinal O’Connell, who exclaimed, “Our wicked man has become wicked good!” And the rest is local slang history. But his campaign was crippled by his torrid affair with Margaret Hamilton, still hot from her role as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. Okay, J.D., here’s the best I have: The year zero was 1942, and former Mayor James Michael Curley was running for the U.S.
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