NorCal to SoCal: A Guide to Californian Slang
北加州到南加州：加州俚語指南
As the home of Hollywood, a strong surfing culture and a diverse music industry, a lot of slang comes from California and is used across the US.
If you’re in Northern California — or NorCal — you’ll probably hear a lot of people using “hella” to mean “very.” So if your lunch is amazing, you could say, “This food is hella good!”
If you hear music you really love, you could say, “This song slaps!” Using “slap” to mean “be really good” is thought to have come from NorCal hip-hop culture, and became popular in the early 2000s.
If your favorite artist has just released new music, you might also say, “I was so stoked to hear their new song!” This is a Californian way of saying you’re really excited, and comes from Southern California’s — or SoCal’s — surfing culture.
Surfing has given California a lot of slang, which includes calling any of your friends — man or woman — “bro,” which is short for “brother.” Sometimes this is also said as “brah” or “bruh.”
And it might not sound like a good thing, but surfer slang also uses “sick” to mean “really good.” So to say something is great, you could just say, “That’s sick!”
如果你在北加州——你可能會聽到很多人用「hella」來指「very」。 因此，你可以說:”This food is hella good!”來形容這些食物超美味的。如果你聽到你很喜歡的音樂，你可以說: “This song slaps!” （這首歌太好聽了！）。如果你最喜歡的藝人剛推出新歌曲，你可能會說: “I was so stoked to hear their new song!” （我聽到他們的新歌之後真的好開心！） 這個是加州人表達很興奮的說法，源自於南加州的衝浪文化。衝浪為加州帶來大量的俚語，像是稱呼你的朋友為「bro」，它是「brother」的簡稱。 有時候也會說成是「brah」或「bruh」。有趣的是，這個字如果是指朋友的話，不論男生或女生都可使用哦。雖然聽起來不像是好事，但衝浪者的俚語中也會用「sick」意指「非常棒」。 所以要說某件事情很讚，你可以說: “That’s sick!”（那太讚了！）
Hella 很
Slap非常棒
Stoked興趣的
Bro朋友
Sick非常棒
*這些中文解釋會有些扭曲原本最地道的意思。建議大家還是多參考前述例句使用的情境～
