h-e-double hockey sticks
- noun
- Informal
:
infierno
- When she found out she'd been pranked, she yelled, 'What the h-e-double hockey sticks is this?'
Examples
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Teachers sometimes say 'h-e-double hockey sticks' to avoid swearing in front of children.
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She exclaimed, "Where the h-e-double hockey sticks did you find that?"
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'Why the h-e-double hockey sticks are we late again?' he muttered under his breath.
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What in h-e-double hockey sticks is going on here?
-
Teachers sometimes say 'h-e-double hockey sticks' to avoid swearing in front of children.
-
'Why the h-e-double hockey sticks are we late again?' he muttered under his breath.
-
When she found out she'd been pranked, she yelled, 'What the h-e-double hockey sticks is this?'
Synonyms
422
7.5
A small amount of care or worry about something
14
9.9
A strong rude shout people use when they feel very angry or shocked
A mild, playful word people use instead of saying hell
A short shout people use when they feel surprised or frustrated
An old-fashioned word people say to show disbelief or annoyance
A short shocked cry showing disbelief about something ridiculous
Surface Forms
Morphology
h-e-double + hockey + sticks
The phrase is a playful euphemistic spelling for 'hell' and does not convey that meaning through the literal senses of its parts; knowing 'hockey' and 'sticks' (and the non-word 'h-e-double') gives no transparent semantic route to 'hell'. This is culturally specific wordplay/orthographic substitution and therefore idiomatic and unpredictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
H-e-double hockey sticks may come from spelling the word 'hell' out loud: you say h-e and then picture two hockey sticks as the two letter 'L's. That's why people use it as a milder way to say 'hell' or to avoid swearing.