Origin of "flamer"?

[Wilson Gray]

When I was a teener, ca.1950, a person with what was still euphemized
as a "social disease," particularly gonorrhea, was said to be "hot."
But that's as close as I can get.

-Wilson, who's still trying to get ready for "hot" = sexually attractive

On 12/14/06, Rowan McMullin <tryxchange at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Rowan McMullin <tryxchange at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Origin of "flamer"?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I have a reference to "flame" as a slang term for any venereal disease,
> particularly gonorrhea.  Richard Spears' dictionary of slang and euphemism
> places this use in the 1800s.  Can anyone confirm or deny this?
>
> -Rowan
>
> On 12/14/06, Jim Parish <jparish at siue.edu> wrote:
> >
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jim Parish <jparish at SIUE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Origin of "flamer"?
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Just a side note, but some years back I read a book recounting a month
> > or so in the life of Ed Muskie; the word "flamer" came up as describing
> > the sort of senator who will not compromise an inch, preferring to "go
> > down in flames". (I don't recall which senators were identified as such,
> > but George McGovern may have been one of them.)
> >
> > Jim Parish
> >
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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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-Sam'l Clemens

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