I'm not sure why I'm wondering this. I've heard this ejaculation, but never used it until just a few moments ago. Where does it come from?

k

Bill Bruford and AC/DC, dude!

Bill Bruford and AC/DC, dude!

Excellent. Thanks for that, muso.

I've never thought about where "Hell's Bells" actually came from, though I used to hear it often enough (especially from people who wanted to do some major swearing but were restricted by context). Maybe it's a slightly disguised version of "Bloody Hell", which is at root more overtly sacrilegious? Bells are associated with churches and goodness - even in Notre Dame - so there's a bit of softening here. The quick rhyme, so beloved of childish slang, also helps soften the impact.

One of my schoolteachers used to come out with Hell's Teeth in his (fairly frequent) moments of anguish. I seem to have adopted that a little, which is scary. The phrase has an excellent hiss and bite in the middle. Try it next time you fancy expleting.

"Strewth" is similarly snappy.

Fisk

Hey Fish - I'm partial to "strewth" as well but unfortunately, in moments of stress, I revert to the gutter. Sigh....

Someone I once knew used to say, "What the heckinheimer?" I made the mistake of telling my sister-in-law this. Now SHE says it! but tongue-in-cheek (t'other individual was serious!).

For truly splendiferous expletives, try The Rock (as we fondly call Newfoundland). They swear in complete paragraphs there, and never use the same phrase or allusion twice in a set. A quote from Ray Guy (may he rest in peace) 's This Dear And Fine Country - a man cussing his pickup, which has broken down:

"Now then, you lord lifting hopped-up reeving dying merciful blood of a flaming sawed-off mortalizing son of an ever-lasting terrified jumping cross-eyed slimy slot-faced jack-a-bon. Go now, will you."

(the next part of the remedy was to "put the boots to her" - and then, lo and behold, she started again!)

"Now then, you lord lifting hopped-up reeving dying merciful blood of a flaming sawed-off mortalizing son of an ever-lasting terrified jumping cross-eyed slimy slot-faced jack-a-bon. Go now, will you."

LOL

But personally, I definitely have a preference for venting my spleen in the shortiest, pithiest statement possible. The rest is in expressions and actions!

I just love Bill Bruford. King Crimson is my favorite band, a have all discs of KC. They are really cool.

No better place to put this, and I don't feel so bad resurrecting a topic that's only been down for a month... anyone else heard of the bluegrass band Hayseed Dixie? They're a riot. Not a big fan of AC/DC, I skipped over their first album and went straight for #2, which has a killer cover of "Centerfold" by the J Geils Band. Amazing how well it all translates into the bluegrass mileu.

http://www.hayseed-dixie.com

Read their genesis page, about the origin of the band. *Priceless.* Shades of Deliverance.

Hell's bells! Went looking and ended up in a Buffy the Vampire site!
It was a favorite of my Grandfather's and dates back to the early 1900 at least.
(Hells Bells, not Buffy. Don't start - just behave.)
That's all I have to offer.
Any website on old expletives Dr Bill?

Bells are associated with churches and goodness... so there's a bit of softening here

Have been talking about the derivation of "bloody" on and off for a while, and my personal conclusion is that it's primarily a shortening (and disguise of) "by our Lord" - not "by our Lady", which is a common theory. Think about the (English) abbreviation of "my Lord" as "m'Lud", and you'll see what I'm getting at. Oh, and there's probably a tie-in with the Shakespearian "'Sblood" = God's blood, and plenty of other associations with blood and bloodiness thrown in.

What makes this worth mentioning here is that the juxtaposition of "bloody" and "hell" is intensifying rather than softening (which I suggested was the case for "Hell's Bells"). OK, there's a very visible violence in a nasty place as a surface interpretation, but I wonder if the deep-down meaning is very sacrilegious, i.e. "By the lord (of) hell" ?

Food for thought for Brits and Australasians who, like myself, use the oath fairly regularly..

Fish, your "'sblood" reminded me of "zounds" - which is actually pronounced "zooonds," because it is the short form of "God's wounds" - apparently. If me Grade 13 English teacher is to be believed. Grade 13 = something like O levels, j'pense? - anyway, somewhere you go in school when you are 17 or 18! - or, now that it's been abolished in my ol' province of Ontario, somewhere you used to go....

Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.

Dear FF,

This brought a memory back to mind, and a little searching came up with the following:

1 The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling
2 For you but not for me:
3 And the little devils how they sing-a-ling-a-ling
4 For you but not for me.
5 O death, where is thy sting-a-ling-a-ling,
6 O Grave, thy victor-ee?
7 The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling,
8 For you but not for me.

o Original Text: Songs and Slang of the British Soldier: 1914-1918, ed. John Brophy and Eric Partridge (London: Eric Partridge, 1930): 59.
o First Publication Date: ca. 1914-1918?
o Representative Poetry On-line: Editor, I. Lancashire; Publisher, Web Development Group, Inf. Tech. Services, Univ. of Toronto Lib.
o Edition: RPO 1998. © I. Lancashire, Dept. of English (Univ. of Toronto), and Univ. of Toronto Press 1998.

Thanks for that one, dxb - I have known of it ever since Brendan Behan used it in The Hostage but didn't know its provenance until now.

, your "'sblood" reminded me of "zounds" - which is actually pronounced "zooonds," because it is the short form of "God's wounds"

and "strewth", of course, is the shortening of "god's truth."

1 The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling
2 For you but not for me

Genuinely wicked humour, David

- and sounds pretty distinctively British, too.
Is it a take-off of another song?

I've been humming this one, on and off (off key, espec!) since it was mentioned, and find I've come up with a few more words:-

If you see the undertaker
Or the young man from the Pru
Drink a pint with what's left over
Now I'll say "good-bye" to you.

(The Bells of hell etc etc)

I don't know if theses are the original verse, or whether they are the invention of Behan - any ideas?

this song was used as the theme music for a BBC series (shown here over 10 years ago, so circa 12 to 15 years old) about the XBS-- the army sappers (engineers) responsible for the removal of unexploded bombs in English cities during WWII.. i remember the words were so morbid, and the tune so jaunty.. it seemed more irish than english! (as King Charles said of the irish, "All their war and death song are happy, and all their love songs are sad.")

The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling

Rather surreal this - in trying to trace the tune I found that this song is (allegedly) not originally a war-song, but an honest-to-goodness Salvationist/Methodist hymn:
http://www.kuuf.org/Sermons/Get the Hell Out.htm

Here's a little on a famous Salvationist:
http://www.times1190.freeserve.co.uk/general.htm

It may have been expanded a little as a war song, but the implication of sending one's enemy to Hell was clearly in the original hymn.

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised.

"All their war and death song are happy, and all their love songs are sad."
Excellent quote, Helen . True, too!
(even if this song isn't an example)

this song was used as the theme music for a BBC series (shown here over 10 years ago, so circa 12 to 15 years old) about the XBS-- the
army sappers (engineers) responsible for the removal of unexploded bombs in English cities during WWII

I remember that series, Helen. It was called Danger, UXB! which is short for Unexploded Bomb. The main star was Anthony Andrews who also starred in Upstairs, Downstairs, Brideshead, revisited and a few later things which were pretty duff.

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0078593

as King Charles said of the irish, "All their war and death song are happy, and all their love songs are sad."

I never really noticed before but now you mention it, it's true! Try comparing The soldier's song with She moved through the fair. And we like to call them rebel songs, Helen!