What in the world?

What in the world?
 

¿Cómo se dice "What in the world??" o "What the heck?" en español?

Here's a scenario: I'm at the bank and it is taking FOREVER for someone to get to my transaction in the drive-thru and I want to say "What in the world is going on? What the heck? (Some may say "What the hell")...

Is there something other than "¿Qué diablos?"

¡¿Qué demonios?!

This, like the other phrase you listed, translates from the mild 'What the heck'/'What in the world' to the coarser translation you gave.

You can use this phrase as a question or exclamatory, by itself, or in a sentence with or without 'por' or 'para'.

Is there a different phrase that could be used? Does the translation (ranging from mild to coarser) change just based on the tone of voice used?

For "¡¿Qué diablos?!" and "¡¿Qué miércoles?!" (an euphemism for "¡¿Que m*****?!, the latter meaning "What the f***?!" itself) that are just a bit milder than "What the hell?!" you may use a lot of euphemisms (like "What the heck is going on?" or "What on earth is going on?):

¡Caramba! ¿Qué está pasando?
¿Qué cuernos pasa?
¿Qué diantres pasa?

Also: "¿Qué demonios?", and of course some swearwords...

Muchas gracias - I feel like I need to learn more euphemisms and common phrases to use in everyday situations instead of just textbook stuff. :D

(It's "a" euphemism, not "an" euphemism, because the word begins with a consonant sound (yyyyou-phemism), not a vowel sound. I just wanted to give you a little tidbit of help since you helped me!!)

Jaja - I learned some swear words while I was in Spain, and also learned that they don't work quite the same in Mexico.. :)

Thank you. I no longer make that mistake with university (the initial sound is the consonant /j/, written using the international phonetic alphabet). The problem is that in my mind most English words I know have no particular sound :o -- it works as an only-written language to me --. Imagine my surprise when I learnt the pronunciation of words like procedure or entice.