what kind of devil's work

[navi tasan]

1) What kind of devil's work is this?

Does this sentence mean:
a) This is the work of what kind of devil?
or is 'devil's work' a unit?

In the latter case, there would only be one devil, but in the former, more than one.

I think there is only one devil, therefore...

Gratefully,
Navi.

 

[teechar]

I'm not aware that devils may be classified into various kinds. ;-)
I parse it as "What kind of evil/terrible work is this?"

 

[Tarheel]

It's one of those questions that's not really a question. It's like when somebody says, "What the hell is going on here?" he can see perfectly well what is going on, but he doesn't like it.

 

[Barb_D]

My daughter's version, which I have adopted is, "What fresh hell is this?"