hell night
n.— «It was all about alleged hazing at the Memphis fire department during a training event commonly called “hell night.”…Memphis City leaders promise their firefighter training has changed since some controversial October 2004 video was recorded. On the video, you can see a supervisor telling recruits, “You swing that axe like a little girl” and “I don’t think you’re going to make it you better hurry your butts up!” Firefighters called it hell night and it was at this same event that firefighter James Coleman suffered heat stroke and—his attorney explains—slipped into a two-month coma.» —“City and firefighter’s family talk about possible settlement” WMC-TV (Memphis, Tennessee) June 13, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Candace from Memphis, Tennessee, wonders about the phrase You’re eating me out of house and home. The emphatic doublet house and home is part of a long tradition that includes scared out of house and home and chased out of house and home. Even...
A firefighter named Steve in Newport News, Virginia, wonders why in his line of work, and for some police, certain additional kinds of days off after long unbroken shifts are called Kelly days, Kelly shifts, or Kelly time. The term most likely comes...