Wicked, Evolved

Anna, the author of the piece titled “Wicked,” is a Texan who upon moving to the Boston area found difficulty with our vernacular expressions. She focuses on our commonly used adverb “wicked” and works to “unpack” it. She notes an American dictionary defines “wicked” as a word which describes something evil or terrible. This modern definition coincides with its original usage, which she found using the Online Etymology Dictionary. The word “wicked” “is derived from the Old English word wicca meaning wizard; the female equivalent being wicce or witch.” Wizards, and especially witches, are generally thought of to be evil. Anna comments that today the word is rarely associated with wizards. Today, it is witches who are infamously wicked. Part of me thinks this association has something to do with “The Wizard of Oz.” Also, Harry Potter aside, witches seem to be far more present in American culture than wizards. Maybe this is just a reflection of my growing up near Salem.

After living in Massachusetts, Anna has found we use the word “wicked” in a different manner. She notes we use it as an adverb that expresses extremity. I found it interesting this usage was first introduced by Fitzgerald. In high school I can almost remember reading “wicked” in The Great Gatsby and thinking it was weird, but I might be making that up. In her final paragraph Anna notes that like “ill” and “sick,” “wicked” has taken a meaning which is far removed from its original definition. Anna makes some suggestions as to why this has occurred. Perhaps our culture has a fascination with danger and depravity? Or perhaps our language simply lacks a word which connotates such extremes?

When thinking about how her article relates to the content of our class, the first concept that came to mind was “frames.” First and most obviously, Anna writes her article from her frame as a Texan native. Under this frame, our native expressions do not make sense. Some of Anna’s comments seem to illude to other frames as well. For example, she comments about how the term “wicked” is more commonly associated with women. This statement is certainly valid, but it seems like a reflection of her frame as a woman, already sensitive to gender injustices. A man might not have been as quick to question why wizards are less frequently described as “wicked.” Anna may have cited the Bible as a student writing under the Christian frame, or she might have just search “wicked” into google.

As for futher connections with our class I’m not too sure what else to write. It seems like the usage of the word “wicked” is the content of her article. In it, she went through the “process” of “unpacking” it. The Schein and Weber articles don’t seem to connect well, as they describe group activity. Anna is writing about her experiences as an individual dealing with foreign vernacular expressions. Maybe she has performed a “task” in relation to the group that is Massachusetts natives by attempting to familiarize herself with our expressions.

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You’re currently reading “Wicked, Evolved,” an entry on Thumpasorus’s Weblog

Published:: March 8, 2008 / 8:37 pm

Category:: Small Group Communication

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Stephanie Jo Kent 3.13.08 / 9pm

The tie-in at the end with “task” is quite insightful: you’ve recognized a context in which it makes sense that the labor of understanding a particular word from two different (shall we say) cultural vantage points could be a service to the group-as-a-whole (which includes persons from at least two different viewpoints, possibly two different worldviews).

Hmm. Are “worldviews” substantially distinct from “viewpoints”?

Your application of the concept of “frames” is also right on target.

The explanation you provide of the difference between the traditional definitions found by Anna (in “How the Word wicked Creates Reality“) and her own contemporary experience of its meaning left me with some questions.

For instance, I found the 4th regular variation provided by the Merriam Webster online dictionary, “going beyond reasonable or predictable limits: of exceptional quality or degree” to be perfectly consistent with the contemporary usage of “wonderful.” Why is this usage categorized as “slang” instead of as an equally valid ancient meaning as the dictionary states?

I’m also curious about the use of “wicked” in our class. Does anyone say it? If so, about what? Do they use it as an adjective, a good noun (“wonderful”), or a bad noun (“evil”)? And why might this matter?

thumpasorus 3.22.08 / 12pm

After revisiting this post and the definition of the word “wicked,” it does seem like using the word “wicked” to give emphasis is perfectly proper. I didn’t see that the dictionary classified it as slang. Is “wicked” official slang? It certainly is used in that way. For example, were I to use it at a job interview, I think I would be seen as uncultured, unprofessional, or uneducated (like the word “ain’t”). It definitely doesn’t express mastery of the language. It is a good word though, I think.

When I think of the stereotypical “wicked” user, someone with a thick Boston accent comes to mind. “Dude, Jetah is wicked retaaahded, toss me another Budweisah!” I thought maybe this connotation explains “wicked’s” slang status. However, not only people with heavy Boston accents say “wicked.” In my hometown, most people speak with the standard American accent, but still say wicked. Also, to my surprise, while at Roanoke College in Virginia I found some people said wicked. They weren’t from New England either. However, they used it incorrectly (at least by my standards). They would say “that’s wicked!” instead of “thats wicked cool!” These people were few and far between at Roanoke.

In that usage, “wicked” is an adjective. However I think that for most people in New England “wicked” functions as an adverb. I assume that most of my classmates from New England use the word, but I haven’t heard it from their mouths much. Maybe I just don’t notice it because it is so common.

I used to think that catch phrases and pop-words such as “sick” and “ill” were really only formed to express positive things. I thought this was because it is cooler to express that something is positive, and associate yourself with that. However, I’m not so sure that is the case now. I can think of plenty of examples of slang words used to negatively describe things. These words seems to be less popular though.

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