"When Hell Freezes Over" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2021-05-26

0:00 - How to Say, “When hell freezes over.”
0:16 - Examples of “When hell freezes over.”
0:55 - Meaning of “When hell freezes over.”
1:34 - Origin of “When hell freezes over.”
3:47 - More Examples of “When hell freezes over.”
4:30 - Conclusion

“When hell freezes over.”

If someone says, “When hell freezes over,” they mean that it’ll never happen, it won’t come to pass, it’s impossible.

“I’ll date him when hell freezes over!” you might be joking with your friend about a guy that has a crush on you.

Maybe your partner tells you that you need to quit sugar, “I’ll stop eating cookies and cake when hell freezes over!”

“If you just sit around playing video games all day, hell will freeze over before you achieve anything!” your mom might be berating you.

As you can see, if someone uses the idiom, “when hell freezes over”, they mean that the matter at hand will not happen, has a highly unlikely chance of happening, is improbable.

Another related, but more fun, idiom is, “a snowball’s chance in hell” - after all, hell is supposedly an extremely hot and torturous place, while a snowball needs cold temperatures.

“When hell freezes over,” was first used in the 19th century in the United States, and was popularized by the authors, P.G. Wodehouse and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Other English idioms with the same meaning, include, “when the cows come home,” “until you’re blue in the face,” “in a month of Sundays,” and of course, “when pigs fly.”

Cultures all over the world have equally amusing and perplexing idioms that are equivalent to “when hell freezes over”.

In Japanese, they say that “you can’t catch wind in a net.”

“The sun has risen in the west,” is something you might hear in Hindi.

In Persian, you might be waiting for “when the reed plant blooms.”

“When the crawfish whistles on the mountain,” is something you’d be told in Russian.

In Tagalog, there probably wouldn’t be a day “when the crow turns white, when the egret turns black.”

Even if someone tells you that something will only happen when hell freezes over, you must not forget that it’s simply their opinion…

… if you believe it can happen or that you can make it happen, think of the proverb, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

“Your business idea is ridiculous! People will buy it when hell freezes over,” an acquaintance might be ridiculing your new venture.

Perhaps your partner tells you that you should wake up early on weekends, “Sure, I’ll do it when hell freezes over!”

“I don’t want to wait until hell freezes over, I’m just going to have to do it myself,” your best friend tells you about something she’s been nagging her husband to fix.

So, the next time you think something is highly unlikely, probably impossible, never going to happen, just say, “When hell freezes over.”

#superduperenglishidioms #englishidioms #idioms #proverbs

References: https://www.theidioms.com/when-hell-freezes-over/#:~:text=This%20expression%20was%20first%20used,hot%20for%20all%20of%20eternity.

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/318185/what-is-the-equivalent-of-persian-idiom-when-the-reed-blooms/318187

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_idioms_of_improbability