Origin of "flamer"?

[Wilson Gray]

A "flamer"? As everyone knows, a flamer is a hamburger made with a
flame-broiled meat patty.

But, seriously, folks, ever since the late '60's, when I saw the play,
_The Boys In The Band_, which featured such a person, "flamer" has
been fixed in my mind as being primarily a pseudo-euphemism for
"flaming faggot," though I later came to accept it as short for both
"flaming asshole" and "flame-broiled hamburger."

-Wilson

On 12/15/06, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > 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:
> > >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > 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
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Sam'l Clemens
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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