Elektra, as Daredevil, ponders the etymology of “Hell’s Kitchen” while beating up a number of goons:
Amusingly, the answers she mentions are best known these days from Wikipedia. I was disappointed that the Oxford English Dictionary, my usual source for word origins, does not have the phrase, although that might be asking a lot of a British reference book. The short answer may be that no one is sure but the phrase and the image it conjures are indelible. The similarly evocative name “Hell’s Hundred Acres” for the portion of the Lower West Side comprising decaying loft buildings full of fabric and paper has gradually disappeared as the area gentrified into SoHo, although FDNY Ladder 20, based on Lafayette Street, uses that name as its motto.
The header image is “Hell’s Kitchen / Times Square” by JasonParis and is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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