Poppinjay

Up north, it has been for a while. From Mass. to Maine. It's sort of interchangeable. "Go up root 43, take this wicked right curve before you end up in the corn field. Stop at the innersec and watch these totally wicked horses racing."

As far as compliment or insult, it can be either. It has to paired with an actual adjective. "That guy's wicked smart/stupid".

I just heard a story about words that used to be compliments that are now ethnic slurs. I wish I could remember them.

I do know that the adjective affixed to Ivan the Terrible translates in the Russian language at the time to Ivan the Remarkable. So in a sense it's similar to the use of "wicked". Ivan was terrible, but only slightly more than Peter the Great. Ivan also introduced many good things to Russian peasants and serfs, but slightly less than Peter the Great.

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I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet