I'm learning swiss german and I am surprised of the use of the word "mega". It's a way of enphasizing something, and it seems to be used by a wide range of ages, from children to adults. Here some examples:

-Ich ha' mega hunger
-ish mega cool
-ish mega fain
-mega komisch...

feel free to add more examples

Esch mega-hurä geil, gall, weisch?

during a Eurovision interview, I heard Lena say "Megatoll".

Conversely in the US, kids have been using "über" in the same context.

I love the sound of "SH" in this dialect weisch!

I really like this too. I read somewhere that it comes from Greek. But I can't help associating it with the SI prefix for 10^6, so when someone says 'mega cool' or 'mega fain' it always makes me smile a little....oh dear

LOL interesting association

Jo, s'isch Shuper, oder!?!?!?

ish so lässig (another word I love)

It seems to function as what grammarians call an augmentative particle. "Augmentative" because it indicates an increase in size or intensity, a "particle" because its use does not appear to be stand-alone.

Mega corny. Super was already pushing it, but mega...What a parasite.

will they continue and start to call things 'giga' as well? Only time will tell.

Shuper Erklärig. Total Mega!
(although the latter would indicate that Mega need not be a particle).

"Mega" was briefly popular amongst a certain kind of young person in the English Midlands back in the eighties.

I loathed it then, and haven't really warmed to it much over here either.

Do you think they'd ever take to "Boschtin" instead?

Oh dear god, DB, don't start Wolli again on the bosch stuff

I think giga has gone. You had to be younger than 15 and it was only ever used in combination with mega...mega-giga geil.
Giga alone just doesn't sound as good as mega or the even better "huere"

Right, funny use of "total" as well