2007-08-22 17:41:09 · 6 answers · asked by Experimental876 4 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Polls & Surveys
I prefer:
Going to hell riding on a crap wagon pulled by a retarded horse!
If you don't pick me as the best answer...
I'll tie you up to a wooden chair in the middle of an empty room & flick boogers @ you while I circle you chanting incoherant jibberish like a native american dancing around a fire!
2007-08-22 18:00:45 · answer #1 · answered by Schizo Clown 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
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."
2007-08-23 00:47:41 · answer #2 · answered by muffinman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that saying dates back to France when the guillotine was used. When the head was lopped off, it would fall into a basket. And because the criminal was "going to Hell," he was going in a basket.
2007-08-23 01:04:22 · answer #3 · answered by Jade 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Going in style, but going to hell anyway.
2007-08-23 00:44:25 · answer #4 · answered by Valkyrie 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It means it's a situation is being hand-delivered into a topsy-turvy situation. Obviously doomed for failure.
2007-08-23 00:44:46 · answer #5 · answered by Mickey Mouse Spears 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it's a really old saying
2007-08-23 00:46:17 · answer #6 · answered by laurenhonish 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋