What is the origin of ‘What the hell?’? I have two theories:
[ul][li]‘What in the name of Hell are you doing?’ That is, a variation on ‘Heaven’s name’.[/li][li]‘What in [the] Hell was that?’ That is, whatever ‘that’ was, it must have originated in Hell since no one on Earth could have come up with it.[/ul][/li]
Anyone know?
I’ve often seen “What in hell…” printed in books, but I’ve never heard it said like that.
I always say “What the hell…” or for emphasis “What in THE HELL…” I think I picked that up from my dad, who’s in his 70s. It doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense either way. I wonder if it’s something Catholics do, sort of like saying “Got Damn” to avoid taking the Lord’s name in vain.
Good ol’ OED quotes Ben Jonson from 1602: Poetaster I. iii. 16 The hell thou wilt. What, turn law into verse?
They list “the hell with” and “to hell with” as synonymous, which is interesting. “How the hell” from 1785, “what the hell” from 1800. I’m sure these could be pushed back. I don’t really understand the use of “the” here.