The _ _ _ from hell; The Woman from Hell (film working title 1940; other cites starting in 1902)

[Garson O'Toole]

Thanks for your quick response Jesse. The title of the message states
"cites starting in 1902" because it includes a mention of OED P4 j.

On Sat, Mar 5, 2011 at 12:07 PM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Subject:      Re: The _ _ _ from hell; The Woman from Hell (film working title
>              1940; other cites starting in 1902)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sat, Mar 05, 2011 at 11:55:59AM -0500, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>> Fred Shapiro's blog discussed an intriguing query on Thursday:
>>
>> Marcus Brute asked:
>> How about "the ___ from Hell" (e.g. "the mother-in-law from Hell")?
>> Was Richard Lewis really the first to use the expression?
>>
>> Fred mentioned an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where the comedian
>> Richard Lewis attempted to obtain credit for originating the
>> expression "The ___ from hell". YBQ has a 1986 cite with Lewis
>> describing himself with the phrase "Comedian from hell", and YBQ notes
>> this is the "Earliest documented example of the expression 'from hell'
>> referring to a person."
>
> OED has a 1902 example at HELL n. Phrases P4.j.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
> OED
>
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