The blank's in the wrong place for how I use the words. I would very definitely put it instead as "tore my pants all to ____", and probably fill in the blank with "pieces".
Hm. But there aren't pieces; there's just a hole, and a bunch of scraped-thin parts. It's not that big a hole, either, or there'd be stronger language in the poll.
Right. In my native idiolect, "all to pieces" is not necessarily used any more literally than "tore the hell out of", although it does tend to imply a fair bit of damage. From what I saw, your pants weren't nearly to the point where I'd use either intensifier, but I'd consider them about equal in strength.
The other point I meant to be making there was that, using equivalent words, I'd more expect "tore all to hell" than "tore the hell out of".
What I would do with the pants would depend heavily on how they were cut. If they're fairly narrow through the thighs I would use them as work-around-the-house pants. If fuller, probably shorts. I'm never satisfied with shorts cut from pants that were narrow through the thighs, but they're more fashionable shorts at the moment, I suppose, so it's entirely possible that your reaction is the opposite. Still, I'd rather have a good pair of shorts or a good pair of work pants than one of the two that isn't so good but is more specific-use.
I was wearing my helmet, and I don't think I banged my head. (I don't have a very clear sense of what happened exactly because I was too busy getting out of the middle of the intersection.)
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The other point I meant to be making there was that, using equivalent words, I'd more expect "tore all to hell" than "tore the hell out of".
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Definitely go for the sympathy limps!
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I was wearing my helmet, and I don't think I banged my head. (I don't have a very clear sense of what happened exactly because I was too busy getting out of the middle of the intersection.)
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