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Hell in a Hand Basket?

Green Gaia

Green Gaia

Veteran Member
Ok, more than once I've been told I'm "going to Hell in a handbasket". Anyone know where that saying came from? It's always made me crack up. :biglaugh: My sisters and I even joke about our varying sizes and colors of handbaskets for whatever occasion it might be.
 
Pah

Pah

Uber all member
Mark Israel writes:

This phrase, meaning "to deteriorate rapidly", originated in the U.S. in the early 20th century. A handbasket is just a basket with
a handle. Something carried in a handbasket goes wherever it's going
without much resistance.

James L. Rader of Merriam-Webster Editorial Dept. writes: "The Dictionary of American Regional English [...] records 'to go to heaven in a handbasket' much earlier than [...] 'hell,' which is not attested before the 1950s. The earliest cite in our files is from 1949 [...]. 'In a handbasket' seems to imply ease and and speed [...]. Perhaps part of the success of these phrases must simply be ascribed to the force of alliteration. DARE has a much earlier citation for another alliterative collocation with 'handbasket' (1714), from Samuel Sewall's diary: 'A committee brought in something about Piscataqua. Govr said he would give his head in a Handbasket as soon as he would pass it.' I suspect that 'to go to hell in a handbasket' has been around much longer than our records would seem to indicate."
Click to expand...
http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxgotohe.html

Evan Morris writes:
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."
Click to expand...
http://www.word-detective.com/back-e2.html
 
M

Majikthise

Guest
"I may be goin' to hell in a bucket, but at least I'm enjoyin' the ride.":jam:

Bob Wier of the Grateful Dead.
 
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