- What the hell did I marry?
- Why the hell did I marry?
- When the hell did I marry?
- Where the hell did I marry?
- ...
Can all question words be followed by "the hell"?
asked Oct 6, 2012 at 13:36
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3Google Books says it has over 20,000 instances of "whence did you...", but it seems quite possible to me no-one has ever even said, let alone written, "whence the hell did you...". Apart from that, I think the question is General Reference.– FumbleFingersCommented Oct 6, 2012 at 13:44
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1@tchrist- Isn't that "Whither the hell didst thou...?"– JimCommented Oct 6, 2012 at 18:27
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Methinks thou hast been trumped, tchrist! (can't stop laughing!)– Kristina LopezCommented Oct 6, 2012 at 22:58
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2 Answers
In theory, yes, but there are restrictions on register. The following is weird (??), because whom is high register, the hell, low:
?? Whom the hell did you see?
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Haha have an upvote for finding another "register mismatch". But I would just say I found quite a few instances of "Whom the hell" in Google Books. Admittedly, many of them are either puns on for whom the bell tolls, or involve mistaken use of whom instead of who, but it's not completely unknown. So I stand by whence the hell..., which apparently never occurs. Commented Oct 6, 2012 at 14:18
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1That’s great. I was going to add Whither the hell ... to my answer when I wrote it. Commented Oct 6, 2012 at 16:39
Which the hell did you take?
I don't think that works, which would make the answer "no".
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5Well, but on the day after his first wedding Jacob may very well have asked "Which the hell did I marry?" Commented Oct 6, 2012 at 15:18
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At a crossroads in a strange town. "Which the hell way do we go now". But it doesn't sound good.– Alan GeeCommented Oct 10, 2012 at 13:26
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I think because "the hell" implies you have absolutely no idea what the answer is, but "which" means you have only a limited set of choices. Those tend to work against each other. Commented Jul 25, 2019 at 13:37