# hell to breakfast **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 8, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-to-breakfast/795789 "2017-09-08T06:42:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-to-breakfast/795789/1 "2017-09-08T06:42:22Z")
Can anyone help me find this expression, which I seem to recall hearing frequently growing up? It means “over a wide area”, as, “our family is scattered from hell to breakfast.” I can’t find any source for it, and I would not be surprised if it was a translation–possibly a faulty one–from Swedish, as my grandmother was a Swedish immigrant who played fast and loose with the English language. ---
**Author:** ![mind\_the\_gap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mind\_the\_gap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mind_the_gap)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-to-breakfast/795789/2 "2017-09-08T14:02:13Z")
I can’t answer your question, but the saying “to Hell and high water” was common in my family. Sounds like a mixed metaphor intended to convey the impossible vastness of the mess in question. Maybe Quote Investigator can come to the rescue. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-to-breakfast/795789/3 "2017-09-08T14:21:30Z")
[Here’s](https://www.waywordradio.org/hell_to_breakfast_1/) an entry on it from the _A Way With Words_ radio show.