what in tarnation | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)Used to add emphasis to "what" when beginning a question.2003. Judith Silverstein, Michael Lasky, "Online dating for dummies"What in Tarnationto Write I still remember the first girl I called up for a date at age 15.2005. Charles Harrington Elster, "What in the word?", Page 35Other euphemisms of this type (and there are many) includewhat in tarnationfor what in damnation and what the Sam Hill for what the damn hell.2007. Diane Stanley. "The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy" Page 141.“What in tarnationdo you think you're doing?”What in tarnationhave you done with my wallet!?

Examples:

EN: Makes you wonder what in tarnation Providence was thinkin' about.
ES: A veces uno llega a preguntarse porqué estamos en este lugar.
EN: Howdy, fellas, what in tarnation brings you out here?
ES: Hola, muchachos. ¿Qué os trae por aquí?
EN: And what in tarnation is that?
ES: Te enderezaría con una pateadura. ¿Y qué carachos es eso?
ID: Dan apa dalam tarnasi itu?
EN: Lafayette, what in tarnation you trying to do?
ES: Lafayette, ¿qué diablos estás haciendo?
EN: Now what in tarnation's going on?
ES: Entonces, dígale. Recuerdo cuando nació nuestro hijo.
EN: Rosco, what in tarnation is keeping you?
ES: Rosco, ¿por qué diablos no has llegado?
EN: Hey, varmint, what in tarnation's going on here?
ES: Oye, varmint, ¿qué diablos está pasando aquí?
EN: Will you tell me what in tarnation a frog could do to get hisself famous?
ES: ¿Me dice cómo diantres una rana se puede hacer famosa?
EN: - Clyde, what in tarnation's gotten into you?
ES: - ¿Qué mosca te picó?
EN: Now what in tarnation is all this commotion in the hen house?
ES: ¿Qué mierda es todo este alboroto en la casa, Hen?
EN: Well, what in tarnation is going on up in here?
ES: Suelta mi abrigo. Bueno, ¿que demonios esta pasando aca?
EN: Your Uncle says, "Well, what in tarnation are you doing passing' 'em when a fella's yelling 'low'?"
ES: Tu tío dice: "Bueno, ¿qué demonios haces pasando cuando un colega grita bajo?"
EN: - As soon as one of you explains what in tarnation is going on.
ES: Tan pronto como uno de ustedes me explique qué rayos está sucediendo.
ID: Setelah salah satu dari kalian menjelaskan apa yang terjadi.
EN: Apple bloom, what in tarnation are you doing?
ID: Apple Bloom! apa-apaan yang kamu lakukan? !
EN: Hey, by the way, what in tarnation is a tarnation?
ID: Omong-omong, apa katamu?

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).