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    I would like to know the origin of the phrase "Going to Hell in a Handbasket", a rather obscure but still heard statement.

    Heard this most of my life and always wondered about the Handbasket thing, what they were referencing when that started.  Another one I used to hear was "Shanks Mare" and was said when we were asking for a ride somewhere and that was the response, meaning, Walk, you have feet. Uncommon, but heard from time to time.  Things we say and do not really question where they came from are sometimes fascinating.  A penny for your thoughts, That is one for the Grist Mill, etc.  Moxie, (extra points if you know the origin of this adjective usually meaning a girl with street smarts, pluck,and a take no prisoners attitude.  My favorite is the story of the stoic New England farmer, a Pa Kettle type, when asked directions to a certain place responds "You can't get there from HERE!"

    0  Views: 1693 Answers: 3 Posted: 12 years ago

    3 Answers

    Meaning


    To be 'going to hell in a handbasket' is to be rapidly deteriorating - on course for disaster.


    Origin


    It isn't at all obvious why 'handbasket' was chosen as the preferred vehicle to convey people to hell. One theory on the origin of the phrase is that derives from the use of handbaskets in the guillotining method of capital punishment. If Hollywood films are to be believed, the decapitated heads were caught in baskets - the casualty presumably going straight to hell, without passing Go.


    http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hell-in-a-handbasket.html


     

    To my know;edge ive always heard the statement  being used for saying your lost, losing it or your health is going down fast.

    I agree with @flip. The baskets were used to catch the heads as they were chopped off and assuming the choppee was a bad guy, one can also assume their trip to Hell............



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