"pluperfect hell"

[Amy West]

I vaguely recall hearing this on a tv show recently. I think it was
The Office. I can't recall which character. It was the "pluperfect"
which stuck in my mind.

(I watch limited tv so it was either The Office, Heroes, or Kings).

---Amy West

>Date:    Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:36:58 -0700
>From:    Geoffrey Nunberg <nunberg at ISCHOOL.BERKELEY.EDU>
>Subject: "pluperfect hell"
>
>Can anybody help with this one? Google Book gives a number of hits for
>"pluperfect hell," none earlier than God's Little Acre; e.g.,
>
>BILLY Now give yourself pluperfect hell. Jerry Wald et al., "Brother
>Rat" (play), 1936
>
>If the President did not know what was going on around him, he should
>have found out pretty quickly, even, as Ervin said, if he had to raise
>"pluperfect hell" and call in John Mitchell and Maurice Stans and
>demand an explanation." Paul R. Clancy, Just a Country Lawyer, 1974
>
>What's the source of this? Is it regional?
>
>Geoff

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org