The origin of a slang phrase...

[NYCat]

I think Betty will have heard this one. We are having hot weather and a client of mine said it might be "hotter than hinges". I am familiar with "hotter than the hinges of Hell". Wondering where it comes from. Google says it "comes from Texas". Well, really. Sometimes Google is too literal (or maybe not literal enough).

 

Paulette

[John Morrison]

12 minutes ago, NYCat said:

it might be "hotter than hinges"

 

Hotter than Hades??

[Ed Rooney]

 

In the 4 years I lived in Texas, I never heard anyone say that. But I did here my wife's father say it in Bristol, Virginia -- hinges of hell.

[Mr Standfast]

That way around Google gives this:

 

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/it+is+hot+as+the+hinges+of+hell

 

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=hinges+of+hell&oq=hinges+of+he&aqs=chrome.0.0i512j69i57j0i15i22i30j0i22i30l5j0i10i22i30.10046j0j4&sourceid=silk&ie=UTF-8

Edited July 27, 2023 by Mr Standfast
Tidy up

[NYCat]

Yes, it means it is very hot but what in hell are the hinges of hell and why are they an ultimate in hot. 

 

Paulette

Edited July 27, 2023 by NYCat

[NYCat]

I found this.... "My father, the pure product of the great state of WV, explained it to me thus, "You know as well as I do that the hottest part of a coal or wood stove, once you really get it ginning, is the hinges. So the hottest part of hell is the hidges on the gates."  So that makes a lot of sense.

 

Paulette

[NYCat]

There's a song! Not about the heat but I like it. ....https://sarahbethterry.com/hinges-of-hell  So the hinges of hell are a thing.

 

Paulette

[Betty LaRue]

Never heard that expression, Paulette. Hotter than hell, yes.

Things my mom said…

That's no hill for a stepper…meaning if you have grit, you can overcome.

As the crow flies…straight from point a to point b rather than taking meandering roads/streets

I kicked that in the street…dismissed that idea

Nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof

I went to bed and had the Big Eye…didn’t get a wink of sleep

Many others I only remember when the occasion for saying them arises!

In the south, if they say, when talking about someone, “Bless her/his heart” that means that person has probably just done something stupid. Like..”Lisa wore a tube top & stilettos to the funeral, bless her heart.”

 

[Ed Rooney]

3 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

 

Nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof

 

 

And that was a play by Tennesse Williams, and later a film with Liz Taylor and Paul Newman. 

 

[Rebecca Ore]

10 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

And that was a play by Tennesse Williams, and later a film with Liz Taylor and Paul Newman. 

 

The saying came before the play.  Dates back to 1678 in print in the UK.   "Cat on hot bricks" is an alternative.   Google informs again.  Southern US version would have been "on a tin roof," as Tennessee Williams was a Southern boy. 

[Betty LaRue]

14 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

And that was a play by Tennesse Williams, and later a film with Liz Taylor and Paul Newman. 

 

And the title of that play & film came from the saying that preceded it for no telling how many years.
I remember a phrase I heard as a child when someone spoke of someone desperately poor. “They didn’t have a pot to p** in or a window to throw it out of.”

Also “Their house was so small you couldn’t swing a cat by the tail in it.” Always hurt my heart for the cat & I wondered who would do something so horrible.