A hell of something, what's it mean?

General Ricardo   Saturday, April 17, 2004, 10:56 GMT
Can you guys gimme exaples for the word " a hell of something" and what does it mean?
Just_Me   Saturday, April 17, 2004, 12:37 GMT
To the best of my knowledge it means the bad thing out of/in somthing/someone
mjd   Saturday, April 17, 2004, 17:13 GMT
Gen. Ricardo,

"Hell of" is a slang expression that adds emphasis...it's generally positive, but it can be used sarcastically as well. It's often pronounced like "helluva." Examples:

(Let's say I just got a brand new, shiny, real expensive car): "MJD, that's a hell of car your driving. How fast does that thing go?"

(John is a really great guy.): "John is a hell of a guy."

(Let's say I were a painter and I did a really horrible job. My boss might say...in an angry sarcastic voice): "That's a hell of a paint job you did out there. It looks like shit. Go out there and fix it."
mjd   Saturday, April 17, 2004, 22:41 GMT
One more example:

It's often used as exclamation when one is confronted with something that is very large or powerful.

Let's say I were in a museum and I was looking at a dinosaur exhibit. I might say to someone: "Look at that one over there. That's one hell of a tail on that stegosaurus."

Let's say I'm sitting in front of a giant banquet. I might say: "This is going to be one hell of a meal" (it'd probably sound like: 'this is gonna be one helluva meal').