Where does the sxpression "Going to h**l in a hand cart",come from? Sally In Lancashire?

Question

Where does the sxpression "Going to h**l in a hand cart",come from? Sally In Lancashire?

Answer 1

I've never heard that one! Sorry! ♥ღ♥

Answer 2

DURING THE PLAGUE  when people died, a cart went around the village collecting dead bodies. they said that the plague would send them to h**l- hence go to h**l in a hand cart.

Answer 3

Meaning

'Going to h**l in a handbasket' is to be deteriorating - on a course for disaster.

Origin

The transit to h**l is conjured up in various terms that use the imagery of swiftness; for example 'hellbent' and 'h**l for leather'.

There are one or two theories as to why 'handbasket' was chosen as the preferred vehicle to be conveyed to h**l. Handbaskets are, of course, baskets that are carried by hand. Items put in a handbasket are moved without resistance and it could be that the imagery of someone being taken off directly and without choice was in the mind of whoever coined the phrase. Another theory is that it derives from the use of the guillotine and the imagery of decipitated heads being caught in baskets, the casualty presumably going straight to h**l, without passing Go. The first use of an alliterative 'in a handbasket' phrase does in fact relate to head rather than h**l. In Samuel Sewall's Diary, 1714, we find:

"A committee brought in something about Piscataqua. Govr said he would give his head in a Handbasket as soon as he would pass it."

There's no real evidence to support those theories. 'Going to h**l in a handbasket' seems to be just a colourful version of 'going to h**l', in the same sense as 'going to the dogs'. The 'in a handbasket' is an alliterative intensifier which gives it a catchy ring. There doesn't appear to be any particular significance to 'handbasket' apart from the alliteration. That view is backed-up by the existence of similar earlier phrases, which, not having the same catchiness, have now disappeared - for example, 'h**l in a basket' and 'h**l in a wheelbarrow'.

The notion of sinners being literally transported to h**l in carts is certainly very old. The mediaeval stained glass windows of Fairford Church in Gloucestershire contain an image of a woman being carried off to purgatory in a wheelbarrow pushed by a blue devil. The phrase isn't that old though and 'going to h**l in a handbasket' and its alternative form 'going to h**l in a handcart', originated in the US, around the start of the 20th century. The 'handbasket' version is now the more common there, although neither version is widely used in other English-speaking countries.

'h**l in a handcart' is found in print before 'h**l in a handbasket'. The earliest citation I can find for that is in The Trenton Times, January 1895:

"Let me tell the gentleman that I am not talking today to men who believe in going to h**l in a handcart instead of to heaven supported by truth."

Given the perfectly serviceable phrase 'h**l in a handcart', the reason why the handbasket version arose isn't clear. There may be a connection between 'going to h**l in a handbasket' and 'basket-case', but that's just speculation.

The currently used 'h**l in a handbasket' doesn't appear in print until the 1920s, although it was probably in circulation in the spoken language for some time before that. The earliest example that I've found is from a 'New York Day To Day' column, written by O. O. McIntyre and syndicated to several US newspaper, including the Waterloo Evening Courier, December 1928:

"Not every small town girl, casting her lot in the theatrical world of Broadway, scoots to h**l in a handbasket."

Answer 4

Try these links : -

going to h**l in a handcart in The AnswerBank: Phrases & Sayings

going to h**l in a handcart. From where does the expression "going to h**l in a

handcart" come from? nickm Sun 30/03/08 10:33 ...

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Phrases-a...

Earliest Christian History: NT Wright: Off to h**l in a Handcart

Dec 30, 2005 ... NT Wright: Off to h**l in a Handcart ... hilarious news via an email and Chris

Tilling's blog that NT Wright is going to burn for eternity! ...

http://earliestchristianhistory.blogspot... -

Answer 5

you may have already heard this but my thought would be during the black death the plague was seen as a sign of evil by the church the only people to die had evil spirits inside.after death they were collected by a man with a hand cart who dumped their corpse's in mass grave's hence they were taken to h**l in a hand cart

Answer 6

That would be "going to h**l, in a hand BASKET" not cart, but I have no idea either way. SORRY!

Answer 7

First occurs in print in The Trenton Times in 1895:

"Let me tell the gentleman that I am not talking today to men who believe in going to h**l in a handcart instead of to heaven supported by truth."

Variants are 'h**l in hand basket' which may simply be an amusing derivative. The idea of sinners being barrowed off to h**l occurs in medieval illustrations, but the description of hand cart doesn't seem to appear in print until the 19th C. These days a phrase beloved by The Daily Mail, I'm told.

Answer 8

I've only heard of the phrase "Going to h**l in a handbasket", which is an expression of unclear origin describing something or a situation taking a turn for the worse or towards disaster, usually without a reason and happening extremely rapidly.

Answer 9

During the time of the plague,people went round collecting

the dead and nearly all were put on hand carts to be taken

out of the city limits to be buried in communal sites.UK

Answer 10

I have not heard of it but could it be from the days of the plague? Or someone has died and put into a hand cart to push the deceased to wherever, for burial.

No hearse, no undertaker, no money therefore using a hand cart.

YEA?