Re: "Going
to hell in a handbasket"
Posted by ESC
on April 19, 2002 In Reply to: Origin of "Going
to hell in a handbasket" posted by Brad on April 19, 2002
: Hello,
: Can anyone tell me about, "Going to hell in a handbasket," and it's
origins???
: Thank you!!
: Brad
From a previous discussion (type in "handbasket"
in the archives search):
http://www.randomhouse.com/:
Clues to the origin
of "going to hell in a handbasket," meaning "deteriorating rapidly or utterly,"
are, unfortunately, scarce as hens' teeth. The eminent slang historian Eric Partridge,
in his "Dictionary of Catchphrases," dates the term to the early 1920's. Christine
Ammer, in her "Have A Nice Day -- No Problem," a dictionary of cliches, agrees
that the phrase probably dates to the early 20th century, and notes that the alliteration
of "hell" and "handbasket" probably contributed to the popularity of the saying.
Ms. Ammer goes a bit further and ventures that, since handbaskets are "light and
easily conveyed," the term "means going to hell easily and rapidly." That seems
a bit of a stretch to me, but I do think the addition of "in a handbasket" (or
"in a bucket," as one variant puts it) does sound more dire and hopeless than
simply "going to hell."
Anyone have anything new to offer?
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