又中又英｜There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell

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，我写到加拿大即将卸任的总理贾斯汀‧杜鲁多，嘲讽候任美国总统唐纳德‧特朗普，威胁要将加拿大变成美国第51个州一说。杜鲁多说，加拿大要成为美国一部分，there “isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell”。正如我所解释的，要是there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of something happening，意即某事永远不会发生。然而，为什么这个成语会用来说某事不可能发生？人们认为地狱是一个炙热而猛火燃烧的地方，在这样一个灼热之处，即使出现雪球也只会瞬间融化，因此，地狱是不可能有雪球的。

当特朗普谈及哈马斯于2023年10月7日袭击以色列后，现时还挟持着的剩余人质时，也用到一个带有“地狱”（hell）字眼的成语。特朗普说，若果他于1月20日上任总统之时，哈马斯还不释放那些人质的话，他们就会有“hell to pay”——习语“hell to pay”是作为警示之用，要是某件特定事情会发生或不发生的话，那某人就会非常愤怒。特朗普是用它来警告哈马斯，若果在1月20日还未释放人质，他就会勃然大怒。

哈马斯和以色列现时已达成停火及换俘协议，是祖‧拜登在任总统最后一段时期的外交斡旋下促成的。有许多习语都有Hell一字，若你说你 have been to hell and back，意即你经过了一段很艰难的时期，就像去了地狱一趟，但现在已从那痛苦的经历中恢复过来了。若你说你正身处“a hell of a mess”，意即你在一个极之糟糕的处境中，例如你的编辑计划要炒掉你了，因为你常常赶不到死线。