Thanks for the very interesting replies. 
I always learn a lot from the SDMB.
No, I occasionally hit t6y7p-o0e4s in the upper line of alphabetic characters on my keyboard and, owing to slowly deteriorating vision, miss them in proofing.
As with most things, believing that there is one hard and fast rule that always applies to all cases is just silly.
Sure, in many cases “very” doesn’t add very much. But this:
[QUOTE=Michael of Lucan]
“I am angry” is more forceful than “I am very angry.”
[/QUOTE]
is just wrong. More forceful? Not a chance. In written form, absent of other context, the former could easily mean that the person is only slightly miffed. I could certainly put a context around it in which it had that meaning. But the latter? You’d have to go through a lot of contortions to make that mean “slightly miffed”.
And when said aloud, try the former with a lot of emphasis on “angry”. Then try the latter with a lot of emphasis on both “very” and “angry”. It sure comes across differently when I hear the two.
It comes down to a matter of style. Terse and punchy is one style, loquacious is another.
“I’m angry,” “I’m very angry,” “I’m really angry,” and “I’m really very angry” all say effectively the same thing, but convey subtly different information about the speaker.
Solve your issue by using “wicked” wherever you’d used really or very.
It is wicked humid out today
I need to go to bed because I’m wicked tired
Jeez, Mom looks wicked angry. Try not to piss her off more.
That sounds hella dumb, if you ask me.