The Pedant Class: raising hell

In a mysterious and mutable world, it would be comforting to think you could rely on the unchanging nature of words, but they are as subject to the whimsy of progress as service on aeroplanes.

Some words are abducted by slang gangs, tortured and dumped in the desert, then given new names under a witness protection programme, and in the end no one has a clue where they came from. Look at "awesome", "stunning" and "hectic".

In other cases, the perceived meaning of words is coloured by individual experience. I was mildly chastised for using the word "bugger" in this column a few weeks ago. In my family this was almost an endearment ("you naughty little bugger"). I understand its dictionary definition. I know it was once a derogatory thing to say to nice chaps like Oscar Wilde, but in my ears the word has lost all ability to insult or offend.

"Hell" is another word that has been robbed of its (awesome) power through common use. It was not ever thus. In days gone by, a very angry Englishman whose horse had been cut off in traffic by another, larger horse, might shout: "Go to Hull!" or an angry Canadian whose newspaper had been shredded by a grizzly bear might shout: "Go to Halifax!" Only the vilest criminal would say the startling swearword "hell" out loud.

Shakespeare thought nothing of wishing someone on a hellbound journey in The Merchant of Venice, but he liked to shake things up.

One can always rely on human perversity. The more a word is forbidden, the more it will be used. I was determined to count the idioms containing "hell", come hell or high water, but it was a hell of a job that was going to take until hell froze over, so I gave up and got the hell out of there. Hell's bells.

Why the hell would I even try? I blame the learned reader who contacted me to discuss the origins of the phrase "go to hell in a handbasket", meaning "to deteriorate rapidly". With a lot of help from an essay by Gary Martin of The Phrase Finder (phrases.org.uk), we discovered that this was first used in print in America in the 1860s.

But what is a handbasket? According to Martin, in the early 1700s it was a receptacle used to collect heads that had rolled into the road after being severed from their bodies by the blade of a guillotine.

Presumably "headbasket" sounded too grisly, although there might well be a link between a handbasket and a headcase.

Going back to hell, there is a lot to be said for the power of words. We should respect them, even hold them in awe, but let us not forget that words exist to serve our purposes, not the other way around. Give them too much power and they become our masters rather than our servants.

Some might say the proper use of language is going to hell in a handbasket. Should we return to a time when the use of an innocuous four-letter word could cause shock, anger, strife and violence? Hell, no.

Reader's words

Re collocations: During the Gaza conflict news agencies referred to casualties as "Palestinians, mostly civilians". - Sandra Thomas

A story in Business Times last week told us that two directors "bailed out" of the Post Office. No they didn't; they baled out. - Michael Coulson

A reader's letter about mangled English reminded me of working for a Brazilian company. Information on a new law for importation of goods into Angola was issued with an English translation which began: "It goes your knowledge we it plows sending the copy of it cuts it out of the newspaper of Luanda enclosed." - AL von Zeil

The expression "It's still early days" seems to have changed to "early doors", often used by sports commentators. - Trevor Bisseker

E-mail Sue de Groot on degroots@sundaytimes.co.za or follower her on Twitter @deGrootS1