I presume that you are asking about the two expressions "a hell of a" and "the hell," not about "What's the hell." The latter expression does not exist. A common expression is "what the hell. . .?", which would be an example of how the expression "the hell" is used.

Both "a hell of a" and "the hell" are informal intensive expressions, or expletives. They both serve to intensify whatever is being said, but the two are used differently. Both expressions are somewhat socially proscribed on religious grounds, like the word "damned," but are not as severely tabooed as sexual obscenities. This middle state accounts for their popularity. They add a piquant, casual flavor to expressions without being overly offensive. To soften the impact, many people use "heck" instead of "hell," just as they use "darn" instead of "damn" or "Gosh" instead of "God."

"A hell of a" means exceedingly remarkable, used neutrally, i.e, it can mean remarkably good or remarkably bad, depending on the context:

"Tiger Woods is a hell of a golfer" means he is a great golfer.

"Baby Face was a hell of a criminal" means he was a criminal with an exceedingly remarkable record.

It may be possible to use the adjective جهنمي for both instances, if you trust that your reader or listener will understand that the expression is not literal, and that it is used to express something you feel so strongly about that ordinary words will not do. And in most situations, the reader can discern whether you intend a positive or negative meaning:

لاعب جهنمي
مجرم جهنمي

This is playing it literally, which is quite OK, but in most cases, there is no need to be so literal. You can use a less colorful expression like عظيم or شديد or خطير or كبير to convey the same general meaning. And in most instances, the reader will know whether a positive or negative meaning is intended. For example:

لاعب عظيم
مأساة عظيمة
مرض خطير
أزمة شديدة
ثروة ضخمة
ثروة كبيرة
أزمة كبيرة

An interesting way to use "a hell of a" is to couple it with "a lot of":

"She maks a hell of a lot of money" means "she makes exceedingly enormous amounts of money." In this kind of construction, I would definitely steer away from the literal, because, to my taste, it would sound quite unidiomatic in Arabic, although people can differ on what is idiomatic and what is not. I would try:

إنها تكسب أموالاً هائلة، أو لا حصر لها، الخ


The expression "the hell" has the same general intensive or expletive effect as "a hell of a," but is used differently. Many people translate it as بحق الجحيم thus interpreting it to mean "in the name of Hell." This may explain the religious sanction against the expression.

It goes without saying that idioms of this kind require a lot of care when translating, and there really is no single universal translation stencil that you can apply every time. You just have to work on each case according to its intrinsic exigencies, but I hope the above guidlines help.


Fuad

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Note added at 2003-03-11 23:01:59 (GMT)
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Further comments on \"what the hell\":

As I mentioned above, \"what the hell\" is an example of how the expression \"the hell\" is used, but \"what the hell\" itself can be used in two different ways.

1. As part of a larger sentence:

\"What the hell do you think are you doing?\"
\"What the hell has gotten into you?\"
\"what the hell is the matter with this computer?\"

The explanations above address this kind of construction, so I will not repeat the explanation here.

2. As a stand-alone expression:

Strictly speaking, it would be an incomplete sentence, but is commonly understood to mean \"what the hell do I care?\" Example:

\"The manager\'s leadership style was a combination of cronyism and administrative terrorism, but, what the hell, I was resigning anyway.\"

This is a specail case of the use of \"what the hell,\" which is in turn a specail case of the use of \"the hell.\" In this case, the vulgar expression طز may serve the purpose.

Another interesting abbreviated use is the phrase \"the hell with [someone or something].\" This expression implies a disdain for that person or thing and, in an oblique way, serves as an imprecation to dispatch the thing or the person to Hell, as in:

\"We no longer have a lunch break, but the hell with it; it was a wasted half-hour anyway.\"

\"The bank said if I didn\'t pay the mortgage, they will foreclose and repossess the house. I said the hell with it.\"

This expression also shows utter disdain and some anger directed, fairly or unfairly, towards the object or person in the phrase. Where I grew up, we use the expression:

للنار وبئس القرار

Of course, the word \"hell\" by itself can be used as an emphatic \"of course,\" as in \"Hell, no!\" It just means \"Of course no!\"

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Note added at 2003-03-11 23:07:55 (GMT)
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Correction: One of the examples given above should read

\"What the hell do you think you are doing?\"

I typed the words out of sequence in my haste. Apologies.