| 词汇 | go to hell in a handbasket |
| 词源 | go to hell in a handbasket. A handbasket is a small basket with a handle, which is carried by hand and is often used for shopping, a good example being the plastic handbaskets sup- plied by some supermarkets. The word handbasket (hand- basket) is first recorded about 1485, but no one has established when the expression go to hell in a handbasket came into the language. It means to degenerate quickly and decisively, as in “This company has gone to hell in a handbasket.” Anyone who could fit in a small handbasket for the journey to hell would certainly have deteriorated very rapidly and decisively. A southern U.S. variation on the phrase is go to hell in a buck- et: “Neither of us could figure it out, all we know for certain was that the marriage of Rose and Dave began to go to hell in a bucket . . .” (Calder Willingham, Rambling Rose, 1972). |
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