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

[Shapiro, Fred]

People, let's have some compassion here.  Producing earlier citations for this particular locution may further some ideal of scholarship, but takes a heavy human toll.  Mr. Lewis is a very sensitive individual for whom priority in the "from hell" department is very, very important.  Some antedatings are better left unpublicized.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jesse Sheidlower [jester at PANIX.COM]
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 12:07 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
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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