Предлагаем вам еще один мастер-класс по современной разговорной лексике. Вас вряд ли будут обучать этому на уроках английского. Но вы наверняка услышите все это, приехав в США. И тогда будете во всеоружии. Не забудьте заглянуть на следующие страницы — там вы найдете еще несколько уроков.
Итак — use it and make your teachers happy.
When people are overwhelmed with emotions they use a lot of extra words, which do not add to the meaning of the sentence; instead they show how the speaker feels about what is happening. Some of them are offensive: "hell if I know…”, "damned if …”, "danged if…”, "heck if…”. By the way "heck if I know” is more polite than the same phrase with the word "hell”.
All these expressions are sometimes used before a negative statement to make it positive, or to express annoyance or surprise.
"I’ll be darned if she didn’t spread the rumour about the whole place!”Sometimes it is enough to say simply "I’ll be darned/damned" in response to something. It just means that they are surprised:
"Look, is it Tom who has just turned up?” — Well, I’ll be damned!”

The words "the heck”, "the hell”, "the crap” , the bejesus” (this word, by the way, used to be a characteristic utterance of Irish people), "the dickens”(which, as it is, meant not only the name of the famous writer), — all these words are added after question words to show that the speaker is surprised , angry or confused:
— How the hell did you get in there?
— Where the dickens did you take that letter from?
— Who the heck told you to do it?

"Like hell” or "Like devil/like bejesus” are used to add emphasis:
— It rained like hell (= it rained very heavily).

Phrases ”the heck out of”, "the hell out of”, "the crap out of”, "the bejesus out of”, "the shit out of” (offensive) are used for strong emphasis:
— That movie will scare the bejesus out of you! (=It will scare you a lot).
— A bunch of guys beat the crap out of him (= beat him very badly)

The phrases above can also be used after the verb "to beat” to add emphasis in two expressions:
Sth beats sth else = sth is better than another thing: "Chemistry is boring enough, but it sure beats math!”And: (it) beats me = I don’t know or I don’t understand: "Why is he always so sleepy? — Beats me!”

Here are some snippets of dialogue:

A. — Why the heck was she carrying so many plates on her tray?
Beats the crap out of me.
B. — What the heck is that thing in the sky?
Darned if I know!
C. — I’ll be danged if I didn’t hit my finger!
Poor dear, it must hurt like the dickens.
D. — Have you heard that noise?
I sure did. Let’s get the hell out of here!