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

[Jesse Sheidlower]

Quite so; my apologies. I was on the run, using a mail client that
trims subjects for quick view, and didn't look more thoroughly.

Jesse

On Mar 5, 2011, at 12:15 PM, "Garson O'Toole"
<adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> 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:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> 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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>>
>
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