Deteriorating - on a course for disaster.Origin
This, and its alternative form `going to hell
in a handcart`, originated in the US, in the first half of the 20th
century. It is still commonly used there, although less so in other
English-speaking countries. The precise source isn`t clear.
The phrase seems to be a version of just
`going to hell`, in the same sense as `going to the dogs`. The `in a
handbasket` is an alliterative intensifier which gives it a catchy ring.
The phrase doesn`t appear in print until the
1940s, although it was probably in circulation in the spoken language
for some time before that. We may not know exactly where and when it
was born, but we do know a little about its gestation. In the Wichita
Daily Times, Wichita Falls, Texas, May 1913, we have:
"And when you won`t buy from me and I can`t buy from you we`ll both go down the tobog to ruin in a handbasket."
That version doesn`t have quite the same
catchiness and it isn`t surprising that it hasn`t lasted. In fact, the
word tobog is no longer in use at all. It seems to have had meaning in
late 19th/early 20th century USA though. In a South Dakota newspaper in
1886, there`s a weather report:
"Enough snow fell yesterday morning to make poor sledging. Tobog or not tobog will soon be the issue"
This makes it clear that tobog relates to
tobogganing. Handbaskets might make impromptu sledges and the notion of
sliding down a toboggan run to ruin in a handbasket makes some sense.
It could be that that is the link between handbaskets and disaster, but
that`s speculation.
Tobog may be archaic but it does seem to have
been a favourite word of Clarence L. Cullen, a journalist for the
Syracuse Herald, around 1910-13. He wrote a regular column called
`Cheer Up Cuthbert!`, containing uplifting homilies, which I`ll include
here for no better reason than I like the sound of them. For example:
"We never know what a Saving Virtue Vanity is till we Begin to Hit the Tobog."
"We can Trek Toward the Tobog without Taking the Turkey Trot for it."
robbyhalford
subscriber Posts: 1
Comments
Deteriorating - on a course for disaster.Origin
This, and its alternative form `going to hell
in a handcart`, originated in the US, in the first half of the 20th
century. It is still commonly used there, although less so in other
English-speaking countries. The precise source isn`t clear.
The phrase seems to be a version of just
`going to hell`, in the same sense as `going to the dogs`. The `in a
handbasket` is an alliterative intensifier which gives it a catchy ring.
The phrase doesn`t appear in print until the
1940s, although it was probably in circulation in the spoken language
for some time before that. We may not know exactly where and when it
was born, but we do know a little about its gestation. In the Wichita
Daily Times, Wichita Falls, Texas, May 1913, we have:
"And when you won`t buy from me and I can`t buy from you we`ll both go down the tobog to ruin in a handbasket."
That version doesn`t have quite the same
catchiness and it isn`t surprising that it hasn`t lasted. In fact, the
word tobog is no longer in use at all. It seems to have had meaning in
late 19th/early 20th century USA though. In a South Dakota newspaper in
1886, there`s a weather report:
"Enough snow fell yesterday morning to make poor sledging. Tobog or not tobog will soon be the issue"
This makes it clear that tobog relates to
tobogganing. Handbaskets might make impromptu sledges and the notion of
sliding down a toboggan run to ruin in a handbasket makes some sense.
It could be that that is the link between handbaskets and disaster, but
that`s speculation.
Tobog may be archaic but it does seem to have
been a favourite word of Clarence L. Cullen, a journalist for the
Syracuse Herald, around 1910-13. He wrote a regular column called
`Cheer Up Cuthbert!`, containing uplifting homilies, which I`ll include
here for no better reason than I like the sound of them. For example:
"We never know what a Saving Virtue Vanity is till we Begin to Hit the Tobog."
"We can Trek Toward the Tobog without Taking the Turkey Trot for it."