Yet again, pop culture is taking cues from the black community. A group of scientists at UC Davis are petitioning to make “hella” the official prefix for 10 to the power of 27, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. A Facebook petition has been started in favor of using the term, which will come next after “giga” and “tera.”
Hella originated from the streets of San Francisco in the largely African American populated Hunters Point neighborhood. It is commonly used in place of “really” or “very” when describing something.
UC, though, says it’s a tribute to Northern California and its scientific accomplishments, according to the petition.
A silly rip-off of black culture or fair game? Leave your comments. –gerald radford
