Is It Really Hotter Than Haiti?
June 9th 2011 06:41
Yes, it’s hot around here right now. And it might be, at least temporarily, hotter than Haiti.
But the correct expression is “hotter than Hades.” Why? Well, Hades was the Greek god of the underworld, so eventually people came to call the place itself Hades. (This makes about as much sense as calling America “Obamaland.” Still, places are named after people all the time, so I suppose it’s not all that much of a stretch. Think of how many towns in the US are called “Washington” or “Lincoln.”)
Hades himself was the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. At some point, the three of them drew lots to see who would get to rule which part of the universe. Zeus got the land, Poseidon got the water, and Hades got the underworld, which put him in a really bad mood.
But why do we say “hotter than Hades”? Was Hades hot? Not particularly. Hades itself wasn’t the place of punishment. It was the place where ALL the dead went. Everybody. As I recall from reading about it, it was supposed to be kind of cold and dark and creepy. The Hades-Hell connection came later, sort of a retrospective retooling by writers who borrowed the Christian Hell and worked their picture of it backwards into the Greek myths.
Of course, once people got to Hades, they were divided up and assigned destinations according to the way they’d lived—but even the worst of them didn’t go to anyplace especially warm. They went to a place called Tartarus, which was even deeper and darker and gloomier than Hades.
Why am I even bothering to write about this? It’s because I’ve really heard people use the phrase “hotter than Haiti.” Up until now, I’ve secretly laughed at this. But you know what? This may be one of those cases where the error is actually more accurate than the “correct” expression.
The only thing that still bothers me is that people make the mistake because modern education doesn’t include much classic literature, and not too many people have even heard of Hades. How sad. But that’s modern education for you.
But the correct expression is “hotter than Hades.” Why? Well, Hades was the Greek god of the underworld, so eventually people came to call the place itself Hades. (This makes about as much sense as calling America “Obamaland.” Still, places are named after people all the time, so I suppose it’s not all that much of a stretch. Think of how many towns in the US are called “Washington” or “Lincoln.”)
Hades himself was the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. At some point, the three of them drew lots to see who would get to rule which part of the universe. Zeus got the land, Poseidon got the water, and Hades got the underworld, which put him in a really bad mood.
But why do we say “hotter than Hades”? Was Hades hot? Not particularly. Hades itself wasn’t the place of punishment. It was the place where ALL the dead went. Everybody. As I recall from reading about it, it was supposed to be kind of cold and dark and creepy. The Hades-Hell connection came later, sort of a retrospective retooling by writers who borrowed the Christian Hell and worked their picture of it backwards into the Greek myths.
Of course, once people got to Hades, they were divided up and assigned destinations according to the way they’d lived—but even the worst of them didn’t go to anyplace especially warm. They went to a place called Tartarus, which was even deeper and darker and gloomier than Hades.
Why am I even bothering to write about this? It’s because I’ve really heard people use the phrase “hotter than Haiti.” Up until now, I’ve secretly laughed at this. But you know what? This may be one of those cases where the error is actually more accurate than the “correct” expression.
The only thing that still bothers me is that people make the mistake because modern education doesn’t include much classic literature, and not too many people have even heard of Hades. How sad. But that’s modern education for you.
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