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Re: Hell's Half Acre

Posted by R. Berg on August 24, 2003

In Reply to: Re: Hell's Half Acre posted by Henry on August 24, 2003

: :
: : Wondering if anyone has more origin information for this phrase.

: : I've traced it to:

: : A red-light district in Ft. Worth, Texas, named roughly in the 1850s or 1860s.

: : Also in 1912 a half-acre size bunker on 7th hole of the Pine Valley Golf Club.

: It's a popular phrase. A search on Google found this site http://www.geocities.com/amazingidioms/expressions.htm
: Hell's half acre: Meaning any long frustrating trip or experience.
: Origin: Hell's half acre is a lava flow about 15 miles west of Idaho Falls, Idaho. It is 4.5 miles of rough, irregular terrain that is very difficult to navigate. It is so named because its cracks, holes, and crags give the area an otherworldly, surreal, and perhaps hellish appearance. A search of hell's half acre would indeed be a long and difficult task.

Possibly the phrase existed long ago and it was adopted to name all three places mentioned so far.