student asking question

Is the word "hell" being used as a metaphor?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Yes, the speaker says "you can wear that gown to hell, Eddy" to state her dissatisfaction with her partner regarding the dress he wanted her to wear. She is basically telling him to wear that dress and go to hell, so its obviously quite aggressive and expresses her unhappiness clearly. You can also use similar expressions like below: Ex: A: You should have gotten the salad. I told you to go on a diet. B: How about you eat that salad in hell. Sometimes, it is also used to express that something is great and fantastic. For example, if you flip around the above statement to "you wore the hell out of that dress," it turns into a compliment. Ex: You wore the hell out of that dress! You looked so fabulous!

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