In my previous column, I wrote about Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ridiculing incoming US President Donald Trump’s threat to make Canada the 51st American state. Trudeau said there “isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell” Canada would become part of the US. As I explained, if there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of something happening, it means it can never happen. But why does this idiom mean something that is impossible? Hell is believed to be a hot and fiery place. A snowball would instantly melt in such a hot place. That’s why a snowball has no chance in hell.
Trump also used an idiom with the word “hell” regarding the remaining hostages held by Hamas after it attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Trump said there will be “hell to pay” if Hamas doesn’t release the hostages by the time he becomes president on January 20. The expression “hell to pay” is used as a warning that someone will get very angry if a particular thing happens or doesn’t happen. Trump used it to warn Hamas he will be furious if the hostages are not released by January 20.
Hamas and Israel have now agreed to a ceasefire and exchange of prisoners negotiated by Joe Biden in his final days as president. There are numerous expressions with the word “hell”. If you say you have been to hell and back, it means you lived through a very difficult period but recovered from the painful experience. If you say you are in “a hell of a mess”, it means you are in an extremely bad situation, such as your editor planning to fire you for always missing deadlines.
在上一篇文章中，我寫到加拿大即將卸任的總理賈斯汀‧杜魯多，嘲諷候任美國總統唐納德‧特朗普，威脅要將加拿大變成美國第51個州一說。杜魯多說，加拿大要成為美國一部分，there “isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell”。正如我所解釋的，要是there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of something happening，意即某事永遠不會發生。然而，為甚麼這個成語會用來說某事不可能發生？人們認為地獄是一個炙熱而猛火燃燒的地方，在這樣一個灼熱之處，即使出現雪球也只會瞬間融化，因此，地獄是不可能有雪球的。
當特朗普談及哈馬斯於2023年10月7日襲擊以色列後，現時還挾持着的剩餘人質時，也用到一個帶有「地獄」（hell）字眼的成語。特朗普說，若果他於1月20日上任總統之時，哈馬斯還不釋放那些人質的話，他們就會有“hell to pay”——習語“hell to pay”是作為警示之用，要是某件特定事情會發生或不發生的話，那某人就會非常憤怒。特朗普是用它來警告哈馬斯，若果在1月20日還未釋放人質，他就會勃然大怒。
哈馬斯和以色列現時已達成停火及換俘協議，是祖‧拜登在任總統最後一段時期的外交斡旋下促成的。有許多習語都有Hell一字，若你說你 have been to hell and back，意即你經過了一段很艱難的時期，就像去了地獄一趟，但現在已從那痛苦的經歷中恢復過來了。若你說你正身處“a hell of a mess”，意即你在一個極之糟糕的處境中，例如你的編輯計劃要炒掉你了，因為你常常趕不到死線。
