Hot Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘cold’ and now, rather predictably, look at ‘hot’.

Hot has been used in the sense of ‘spicy, biting’ since 1540.

Hot has been used in the sense of sexually attractive since as early as the beginning of the 16th century.

Hot flushes have been described since 1887.

Hot stuff, principally American English, has been used since 1889.

The hot seat has been occupied since 1933.

Hot potato, used in the figurative sense, has been in use since 1846.

Hot cakes have been used as a description of something selling well since 1839; although ‘hot cake’ had been in use for 150 years prior to that when it was used to describe – well, hot cake.

Nobody was hot and bothered until 1921.

Yet hot under the collar is first recorded in 1895.

Hot dogs have been eaten since 1886 as hot dogs, although the concept was described 14 years earlier. Originally the hot dog was simply the sausage – which is why there are early references (from 1901) to the hot dog sandwich and even simply the sausage sandwich. Prior to the edible hot dog, it was used to describe a heated bolt used in engineering.

Hot dog as an exclamation of how rather excellent something was comes from 1896.

People have been in hot water in the figurative sense since the 1530s. Weirdly, nobody used the term of ‘hot water’ in the literal sense prior to about 1400.

Hot water bottles are first described in 1813.

Hot spots, as in a dangerous situation, is seen from 1838 – as in a skin irritation from the following year – as a nightclub from 1931 – in firefighting from 1938 – and as a place of conflict from 1941.

Hot rods, American English for a vehicle, is seen from 1945.

Hot foot or ‘hastily’ is seen from 1300.

Red hot meaning ‘lively, passionate’ from 1600 – red hot momma, American English once again, is used to described an earthy female singer from 1926.

Hotwire, to start a vehicle bypassing the ignition, dates from 1966, although the term was used to refer to electrical wires from 1889.

Hot pants were worn from 1970 – but the phrase had been used as early as 1927 when it described sexual arousal.

White hot has been used since 1820.

Hot-blooded meaning ‘passionate’ has been in use since 1590.

Hot air or ‘boastful talk’ is first seen in print in 1900 – some 87 years after hot-air ballooning is first described.

Hotbed was originally a bed for plants where heat was generated by fermenting manure – this described since the 1620s.

An important person has been described as a hot shot since 1933, for ten years prior to that it referred to a fast train, and since 1600 the meaning was rather different in describing ‘a foolish or reckless individual’.

Blue Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘green’ and now look at ‘blue’.

Blue blood is first seen to describe those of noble birth in 1809. It is not an English reference but one describing the old aristocrats of Castile in Spain.

Out of the blue, or a bolt from the blue, is first used in Thomas Carlyle’s writing entitled The French Revolution.

Blue, when referring to something risqué, is not recorded until 1840 and there is little evidence to explain why the colour was chosen. Several theories have been put forward, most often the colour of choice worn by ladies of the night.

Blue in the face, used to describe someone who is frustrated, is first recorded in 1864. Yet earlier it was said to be black and blue in the face, the earlier form seen from 1829.

Once in a blue moon is first used in the modern sense to describe a very long time in an anti-cleric flyer in 1528. But a blue moon is a real astronomical event and occurs, on average, every 33 months. As the lunar month is slightly shorter than a calendar month, the blue moon is simply a second full moon in a calendar month.

Monday blues originated in the US press in the 1830s, used to describe the hung over workforce returning to work after the weekend. More recently Blue Monday is the third Monday in January, said to be the most depressing day of the year.

Blue collar is first used in 1924, another of US origins, describing manual workers as opposed to white collar office workers.

Blue-eyed boy is first used in print in the novels of P.G. Wodehouse in 1919.

Blue ribbon is a misnomer used solely in the USA for many years. It was a mis-hearing of ‘blue riband’ and resulted in blue ribbons being awarded as prizes. Blue Riband had been awarded to the vessel making the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing when it was the only way to travel between the two continents. Blue Riband was borrowed in the early 20th century from the prize awarded in horse racing.

True blue has been used for centuries, certainly appearing in Chaucer, and likely only through the obvious rhyme. Yet it has not always had the same meaning. In the 15th century it was used to mean ‘sorrowful’; by 1788 it described women as either ‘pedantic’ or ‘learned’ depending upon context; while latterly it is a song by Madonna.

Feeling blue is simply the modern version of the earliest use of ‘true blue’, although there are records of ‘the blues’ from as early as the 16th century.

Blues and twos is a police reference to the blue flashing lights and the two tone siren used when attending an emergency.

Blue sky thinking seems to date from the 1940s and is based on the idea that the best work is done when the weather is fine or, possibly, the weather is perceived as better when working well.

Blue sky research is exactly the same as ‘blue sky thinking’ and seems to have developed at the same time.

Blue chip stocks are those which are a fairly safe bet and usually a buy-in to major companies.

Nobody had baby blues before 1892, when it first appeared in the Magazine of Poetry

Scream blue murder first appears around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. My research has often seen me reading old newspaper reports and I have often read of someone giving evidence at a trial or inquest and relating how they were first aware of the victim’s distress when they called out ‘you have murdered me’. I always wonder whether that was accepted as evidence as for surely you can’t be guilty of murder, while the victim is still breathing and screaming blue murder.

Dog Idioms

Several words have found themselves used in a number of phrases. We looked at 'cat' last time and this time, rather predictably, it's 'dog'.

Surprisingly people were living ‘a dog’s life’ as early as 1600…….

….. and ten years later they were ‘going to the dogs’.

Prior to that, in the 1520s, we find the expression ‘dog cheap’, which is either rarely used today or has been largely replaced by ‘dirt cheap’.

In Greek, Roman and Indian cultures of antiquity, the worst throw in dice was known as ‘the dog’ – and the the luckiest player was known as the ‘dog killer’. The latter is probably seen in the Greek word kindynos which may be used to mean ‘danger’ but could be translated as ‘play the dog’.

Every dog has ‘had its day’ since 1550 – and not only do we know when but whom, for this was found in the correspondence of none other than Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth I.

In 1836 we find the expression ‘dog’s age’ referring to ‘a long time’.

The compertitive ‘dog eat dog’ is first seen in the 1850s.

The phrase ‘put on the dog’ is seen from 1934; used to mean ‘to dress one’s best’, it probably dates from the time when the stiff collar was known as the dog collar.

Dogged, in the sense of ‘persistent, obstinate’, is first used in 1779. Dogged had been used since 1300 in a derogatory sense to mean ‘surly, contemptible’; and two centuries later to mean ‘cruel, malicious’.

If you’ve heard someone complain ‘the dogs are barking’ when referring to their feet hurting, it comes from the rhyming slang ‘dog’s meat’ = feet; first seen in 1913.

Hotdogs were first served and named around 1890; although cartoonist Tad Dorgan had gone on record (and several times) saying he suspected this food item contained dog meat. It should be noted there has never been any suggestion this was why they were named.

Hot dog was also used to describe someone skilled (and knowing it) to the point of showing off by 1896; and ten years later as an expression of approval.

The long dry days of summer, known as dog days, get that name because of the position of Sirius in the night sky. Sirius being known as the Dog Star.

Dog-gone (said to be a more polite version of god-damned) appears for the first time in 1849.

Dog tag, the identity discs worn by some military, appears in 1918 and is thought to allude to the similarity between these and those on dog collars.

Sea dog is first seen at the end of the 16th century, but used to refer to a harbour seal. It is used to describe pirates from aroyund 1650, and old seamen and sailors from about 1823. Note in Middle English (pre-Tudor times) ‘sea-hound’ was the term used to describe both the walrus (which does go to sea) and the beaver (which doesn’t).

Nobody swam using doggy-paddle until 1860.

Dogs never wore a dog collar until the 1520s.