Talk:the devil

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why the Devil

SoP: why the devil. Well, actually, Devil, which needs another sense if this is attested with this case.—msh210℠ 18:46, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

Worth comparing: what the Devil, what on Earth, who the Devil (are you?), who on Earth, where the Devil, where on Earth, what in Hell, what in God's name, where in Hell, who in God's name... I personally think we don't need to "collect the set" of these. Equinox ◑ 21:39, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

Ridiculously weak keep, they do seem to be idiomatic, but native speakers tend to 'make these up as they go' and so the number of these that are attestable must be at least 100... and yet the 'idiomatic' point seems to stand, even though I'd rather it didn't. Mglovesfun 21:46, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

You could go even further. who the bloody hell are you (bloody hell); what in God's sweet name [1] has been going on? To add these as phrases based on who and what cannot be anything but a mistake. Equinox ◑ 00:31, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

It’s very idiomatic. Keep. It is not SoP because, as SoP, it makes no grammatical sense. It seems to need "in the name of" in order to be made grammatical, yet it’s used without that. —Stephen 20:43, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

There is some kind of grammar to these. It does seem as if invective has its own grammar. If we could figure out how to do that justice, it would be possible to dispense with the hundreds of otherwise ungrammatical examples of invective. Isn't there a journal called w:Maledicta? DCDuring TALK 20:54, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

Move to the Devil per the fuck. DAVilla 15:39, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Move per DAVilla. It's an adequate home to place some usage examples or quotations to capture searches and present material that might overburden Devil or devil. "X the Devil" wouldn't help at all. (Keeping per Stephen might better reflect WT:CFI, though.) DCDuring TALK 15:52, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Move per DAVilla.​—msh210℠ 18:11, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Moved per most recent votes. Mglovesfun (talk) 10:17, 20 August 2009 (UTC)