CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Englanders like to talk sports, weather — and "wicked."
Super Bowl or no, the Patriots are wicked awesome. It's been wicked cold out. And people are feeling wicked good or bad, depending on the day.
The term, so affectionately used throughout the region, has become part of popular culture, whether it's shown up in L.L. Bean advertising its "Wicked Good" slippers to the "Boston Teens" sketch on "Saturday Night Live."
One woman, Erin Alix-Crowdes of Rochester, N.H., created "Wicked New England" last year, a T-shirt business that pays tribute to the word.
Her enterprise is among the newest additions to New England businesses that have adopted "wicked," labeling everything from auto care shops to software firms.
The word often is used as a substitute for "very" or "really," providing emphasis to another word.
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