toxic hellstew

English

Etymology

Briefly popularized by a 2014 ZDNET article using the term in reference to the Android ecosystem, which was then referenced by Apple CEO Tim Cook (see quotations below).

Noun

toxic hellstew (plural toxic hellstews)

1. (informal) A terrible mess, or very unpleasant situation.

   Synonyms: shitshow, crap circus

   • 2014 April 11, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, “Android fragmentation turning devices into a toxic hellstew of vulnerabilities”, in ZDNET‎^[1], archived from the original on 2023-07-24:

     With vulnerabilities such as Heartbleed and Pileup likely to go unpatched on tens, if not hundreds of millions of Android devices, the platform is fast becoming a toxic hellstew that should send chills down the spines of IT admins.

   • [2014 June 2, Rik Myslewski, “Android is a BURNING 'hellstew' of malware, cackles Apple's Cook”, in The Register‎^[2], archived from the original on 2024-03-07:

     To illustrate his point, he quoted the title of a recent article by ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, a self-described "big fan of Android." ¶ The article's title? "Android fragmentation turning devices into a toxic hellstew of vulnerabilities" – and Cook's slide of that quote added animated flames to the word "hellstew."]

   • 2015 July 26, Marco Arment, “Don't order the fish”, in Marco.org‎^[3], archived from the original on 2024-04-04:

     But the iTunes Store back-end is a toxic hellstew of unreliability. Everything that touches the iTunes Store has a spotty record for me and almost every Mac owner I know.

   • 2015 July 29, Robinson Meyer, “Look Closely and iTunes Somehow Becomes Even Worse”, in The Atlantic‎^[4], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-05:

     But it's worth spending time on iTunes's specific design problems, which surpass those raised by managing a music library or listening to a specific genre. Toxic hellstew it may be, a new version of iTunes points at what kinds of technology are allowed to come out of Apple. Apple is the most valuable company in the world and an organization hailed for its good design. Why does iTunes fail at what it sets out to do?

   • 2023 October 16, Andrew Zuo, “How Section 230 Turned The Internet Into A Toxic Hellstew Of Negativity”, in Medium‎^[5], archived from the original on 2024-04-28:

     So in the light of the Israel Hamas conflict and the reports of misinformation I’d like to go into more detail on section 230 and convey just how this innocent sounding law turned the internet into a toxic hellstew of negativity.

References

• Paul McFedries (1996–2024) “hellstew”, in Word Spy, Logophilia Limited.