where did the phrase "when hell freezes over" originate?
460282
sorry can't find the origin, but did you ever see that TV commercial where the guy is all sweaty and dirty pushing a wheel barrel thru the snow and then the camera backs up and it is supposed to be hell, can't remember what it was for but it was really funny
478969
It stands for "Holy S*** It's Freezing" backwards.
677973
Concerning this use of “hell” to translate these original words from the Hebrew and Greek, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981, Vol. 2, p. 187) says: “HADES . . . It corresponds to ‘Sheol’ in the O.T. [Old Testament]. In the A.V. of the O.T. [Old Testament] and N.T. [New Testament], it has been unhappily rendered ‘Hell.’”\n\nCollier’s Encyclopedia (1986, Vol. 12, p. 28) says concerning “Hell”: “First it stands for the Hebrew Sheol of the Old Testament and the Greek Hades of the Septuagint and New Testament. Since Sheol in Old Testament times referred simply to the abode of the dead and suggested no moral distinctions, the word ‘hell,’ as understood today, is not a happy translation.”\n\nIt is, in fact, because of the way that the word “hell” is understood today that it is such an unsatisfactory translation of these original Bible words. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, unabridged, under “Hell” says: “fr[om] . . . helan to conceal.” The word “hell” thus originally conveyed no thought of heat or torment but simply of a ‘covered over or concealed place.’ In the old English dialect the expression “helling potatoes” meant, not to roast them, but simply to place the potatoes in the ground or in a cellar.\n\nThe idea of a “hell” of fiery torment, however, dates back long before Dante or Milton. The Grolier Universal Encyclopedia (1971, Vol. 9, p. 205) under “Hell” says: “Hindus and Buddhists regard hell as a place of spiritual cleansing and final restoration. Islamic tradition considers it as a place of everlasting punishment.” \n\nThe idea of suffering after death is found among the pagan religious teachings of ancient peoples in Babylon and Egypt. Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs depicted the “nether world . . . as a place full of horrors, . . . presided over by gods and demons of great strength and fierceness.” Although ancient Egyptian religious texts do not teach that the burning of any individual victim would go on forever, they do portray the “Other World” as featuring “pits of fire” for “the damned.”—The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, by Morris Jastrow, Jr., 1898, p. 581; The Book of the Dead, with introduction by E. Wallis Budge, 1960, pp. 135, 144, 149, 151, 153, 161, 200.\n\n“Hellfire” has been a basic teaching in Christendom for many centuries. It is understandable why The Encyclopedia Americana (1956, Vol. XIV, p. 81) said: “Much confusion and misunderstanding has been caused through the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell. The simple transliteration of these words by the translators of the revised editions of the Bible has not sufficed to appreciably clear up this confusion and misconception.” \n\nNevertheless, such transliteration and consistent rendering does enable the Bible student to make an accurate comparison of the texts in which these original words appear and, with open mind, thereby to arrive at a correct understanding of their true significance.
1135690
They didn't want to swear a long time ago so they used other words here is part of a site that may help....\n\nThe explanation of "Sam Hill" is actually pretty simple -- it's an early 19th century American euphemism for "hell" used as an oath. Perhaps due to our Puritan ancestry, Americans have always been especially creative when it comes to inventing linguistic detours around oaths and blasphemies. "Heck," "drat," "darn," "gosh," "jiminy," "gee-whiz" and "goldarn," for example, all started out as euphemisms for exclamations of surprise or rage no newspaper would print and no proper dinner table conversation would tolerate. To digress a bit, I have always wondered whether Walt Disney knew, when he christened his little cartoon creation "Jiminy Cricket," that the name was a rather transparent euphemism for the blasphemous oath "Jesus Christ." \n\nBecause the euphemism "Sam Hill" is also a perfectly good real name, many people assume that the phrase must have originally referred to a real person. A reader wrote me several years ago, wondering if he might have uncovered the "original" Sam Hill in the person of Samuel Hill (1857--1931), a lawyer, financier and railroad magnate known in the Northwest U.S. as "the Father of Good Roads." After doing a little checking, however, I can say with certainty that while Mr. Hill may have been famous for many things, he was not the source of this phrase. In fact, "What in the Sam Hill" was in widespread use by 1839, quite a few years before this particular Sam Hill was born.\n\n\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
751584
My parents used to say this stinks on "dry" ice.  I guess that was back in the old days.  LOL.  I am curious now too.  What does it mean?
206639
Well, since the Jews didn't have a concept of hell, I'm guessing that early Christianity probably picked it up from the Greek Hades. The name Hell, however, originally stems from the name for the Norse underworld, Hel. Since English is a Germanic language, it makes sense that the idea for the Christian underworld would borrow that name.
855024
"If it's not broke, don't fix it."\n\n"Leave well enough alone"\n\nThese sayings were made popular during WWII, when it's better to have something that works rather than something that's 'fixed' and no longer working. There were plenty of other things in those days to direct your good intentions towards.
292993
The saying was originally created by fans in '81.  The song was done by Bootsy Collins.
1455
Its analogous to "every which way" or "as much/often as possible."  According to lastsource.com (which is linked below in cached form, as I was having trouble accessing the site), the phrase originated in Rome during the early days of Christianity:  In order to encourage Church-goers to show up to Mass on time, the parish priest would have the last person to arrive beaten mercilessly the other 6 days of the week.
891786
I can't remember where the quote is from, but I agree with it entirely.  It means "no holds barred", in a way, and I find it true in love and war.  It's sad to say that's true in love, but, experience tells me it is true, and our culture supports it entirely.  Our international bodies try to make it untrue in war, such as in the Geneva Convention, but, war is hell everything's "fair" in hell, so . . ..  God Bless you.
1067579
Interesting question that others have been pondering on as I see.\nHere's a link that takes the expression back to at least 1946 when used as the title of a book about psychiatric problems provoked in troops in wartime (a topical subject)\nhttp://www.tomfolio.com/bookdetailssu.asp?b=7070&m=106\nSmokey Stover thought on this forum that it dated back to 1940\nhttp://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/46/messages/1021.html\nSomeone elso gives the authorship to Robert Owen, the 18th century textile owner and philanthropist which certainly predates the others http://www.giga-usa.com/quotes/authors/robert_owen_a001.htm\n\nHow am I doing?
309549
i have never heard of that expression.  i believe it may be a combination of the sayings \n"heaven forbid" (i hope it does not happen) and \n"perish the thought" (don't even think about it).  \nwhoever used that expression probably meant to use one of those sayings.  they are similar in meaning.
731501
Hell would Freeze Over
445598
The saying does go, "come hell or high waters", and my dad once told me it referred to people living in the desert.  They would build towns that were meant to stay right where they were come hell (the intense summer heat and occasional fires) or high waters (floods).
112033
Don't know who said it recently but it's a quote from Shakespeare\n\n"Cry HAVOC' and let slip the dogs of war!" - William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act III
937274
The phrase is supposed to have originated in England in the 17th century when city streets were filthy and heavy rain would occasionally carry along dead animals. \n\nThe idea that seeing dead cats and dogs floating by in storms would cause people to coin this phrase is just about believable. People may not have actually thought the animals had come from the sky, but might have made up the phrase to suit the occasion.
748124
It makes no sense! Gibberish!\n\nEdit; \nNo wonder; it's from the devil's dictionary...1911