{"id":380,"date":"2021-12-28T17:11:02","date_gmt":"2021-12-28T17:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=380"},"modified":"2021-12-28T17:11:02","modified_gmt":"2021-12-28T17:11:02","slug":"hell-in-a-handbasket-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/hell-in-a-handbasket-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Hell in a Handbasket - Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine the scene, you're at a protest, and things suddenly turn to chaos as people start smashing shop windows, setting things on fire, and looting. You could say that things went to hell in a handbasket<\/em> in seconds.<\/p>\n

This post unpacks the origin and meaning of this idiom.<\/p>\n

Hell in a Handbasket Meaning<\/h2>\n

When you're using \"hell in a handbasket<\/em>\" in conversation, you're referring to how a situation rapidly deteriorated into chaos. The idiom could refer to everything going well and then \"going to hell in a handbasket<\/em>,\" or it could describe an already dire scenario that is about to get even worse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To say \"hell in a handbasket<\/em>\" means that the situation is heading for a complete disaster, and there is little you can do to prevent it from happening.<\/p>\n

Hell in a Handbasket Example Usage<\/h2>\n

\"The electricity went out, the heat stopped, and the garbage men didn't collect today. Man, everything is going to hell in a handbasket<\/em> today.\"<\/p>\n

\"This quarter's sales are down 38%, customers don't like the new product, and the whole campaign is going to hell in a handbasket<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n

\"The situation on the ground is worsening; the people are starting to set fire to cars and burn buildings, everything is going to hell in a handbasket<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n

\"I lost my job and couldn't pay my insurance. I had a car accident yesterday and wrote off the vehicle; everything went to hell in a handbasket<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n

\"Everything was fine until he showed up, then it went to hell in a handbasket<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n

Hell in a Handbasket Origin<\/h2>\n

The earliest version of \"Hell in a handbasket<\/em>\" comes from the weekly advice from Rome, or \"The History of popery, 1682<\/em>.\" In the text, we find the following.<\/p>\n

\"...that noise of a Popish Plot was nothing in the world but an intrigue of the Whigs to destroy the Kings best Friends, and the Devil fetch me to Hell in a Handbasket, if I might have my will, there should not be one Fanatical Dog left alive in the Three Kingdoms.\"<\/p>\n

Hell in a handbasket<\/em> also has a similar meaning to \"going to the dogs<\/em>,\" and it's another way of saying \"everything is going to hell<\/em>.\" The \"handbasket<\/em>\" in the phrase provides it with an intensifier that brings a catchy ring to the expression.<\/p>\n

Some of the earlier phrases used include \"hell in a wheelbarrow,\"<\/em> but this expression faded from use. One of the earliest references to the term uses \"hell in a hand-cart<\/em>,\" featuring in Elbridge Paige's \"Book of Short Patent Sermons<\/em>,\" published in 1841. The text reads as follows.<\/p>\n

\"[Those people] who would rather ride to hell in a hand-cart<\/em> than walk to heaven supported by the staff of industry.\"<\/p>\n