#shot to hell

SHOT TO HELL

Idiomatic Meaning: Badly damaged, ruined or fatigued; destroyed.

Literal Meaning:  Because of the many meaning of “shot”, there can likewise be several literal interpretations of this word. But for our purposes it means “fired from a gun”, all the way to Hell, which is a great distance.

Usage: Informal, spoken American English. Sometimes just shortened to “shot”.

Origin: Mid-19th Century, American English – It was not common for the word “Hell” to appear in print before the 20th century. The British version of this expression is “shot to the devil.” The allusion refers to being destroyed by gunfire. The word “shot” by itself is very old, going back to German, Norse, and Old English. It can be a noun, adjective or a verb and has several dozen meanings it has accumulated over the centuries.

Why is this funny?  By looking at the illustration, we see that this is actually a word play using a couple of definitions of “shot”. The dialog reveals that one of these recent arrivals in hell was not killed by a bullet shot from a gun, but was herself placed inside a gun (cannon) which was then fired, much like the old circus act of shooting a man from a cannon. Only this shot actually killed her which is how she ended up in hell. Her big plans (whatever they were) were “shot to hell” when she was shot to hell.