Hell

Hell is, according to many religious beliefs, a place or a state of painful suffering. The English word 'hell' comes from the Teutonic 'Hel', which originally meant "to cover" and later referred to the goddess of the Norse underworld, Helgardh. Compare Anglo-Saxon helan and Latin celare = "to hide".

Non-religious context

The word "Hell" used away from its religious context was long considered to be profanity, particularly in North America. Although its use was commonplace in everyday speech and on television by the 1970s, many people still consider it somewhat rude or inappropriate language, particularly involving children.http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04036/269490.stm

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Many, particularly among religious circles and in certain sensitive environments, still avoid casual usage of the word. In British English and some parts of North America, the word has fallen into common use and is not considered profane; often considered to be a safer and less offensive alternative to swearing.

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Euphemistic ways of saying hell

"Hell" is sometimes "pronounced" "H-E-double-hockey-sticks", "H-E-double-toothpicks", "heck" or "Sam Hill" ("What the Sam Hill is going on here?"). Another common euphemism for Hell is "The Other Place" (which is also the formal term used in the UK parliament to refer to the House of Lords when a member of the House of Commons, and vice-versa).

Related Topics:
House of Lords - House of Commons

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Example: "Gosh will darn you to heck and tarnation" in place of "God will damn you to hell and eternal damnation."

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Language edits

In the Cartoon Network dubbed broadcast of the anime series Rurouni Kenshin, edits were made in the dialogue to change "hell" to "Hades" in some cases. Example: "The flames of hell (Hades) have been burning in my body for every single day since then."

Related Topics:
Cartoon Network - Anime - Rurouni Kenshin

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This edit was only used when talking about hell. "What the hell?" was changed to "What the heck?"

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In the popular anime Dragon Ball Z, the central character Goku spends an episode traveling through Hell. He is tormented and teased by big ogre-like monsters wearing shirts with HELL written clearly in large letters. In the American version produced by Saban, the shirts were digitally altered to spell HFIL by removing the lower bars of the two middle letters. This new place was named Home For Infinite Losers (this edit was later removed when Funimation redubbed those episodes for their own DVD release). Vegeta also says "See you in Hell" in the Freeza saga.

Related Topics:
Anime - Dragon Ball Z - Goku - Saban - Funimation - Vegeta - Freeza

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Cold day in hell

Another example of common use of "hell" in daily language, a Cold Day in Hell is a paradox and an idiom, since most imagery of hell depicts it as hot and fiery, such as in the Bible in Revelation, where sinners are cast into a lake of fire. Similar or related phrases include: "Over my dead body," "When hell freezes over," "A snowball's chance in hell," "When the devil goes ice-skating," and "When pigs fly."

Related Topics:
Paradox - Idiom - Bible - Revelation - Lake of fire

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Interestingly, Cocytus, the bottom circle of Hell in Dante's Divine Comedy, is depicted as an ice-covered lake.

Related Topics:
Cocytus - Dante - Divine Comedy

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Dell is Hell

"Dell is Hell" is a nickname given to Dell computers by people who hate them.

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