a hot mess

[Jonathan Lighter]

I'd call it "an inside expression."

JL

On Sat, Aug 21, 2010 at 5:04 PM, Darla Wells <lethe9 at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Darla Wells <lethe9 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: a hot mess
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> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I've been hearing this at a call center where I was working this summer in
> Carencro, Louisiana. I was thinking it was a very local expression in this
> particular workplace or a Cajun expression I was unfamiliar with. That
> brings up a question: what do you call those expressions you hear in a
> workplace that all the insiders know and the rest don't? For example, they
> say "I'ma cut you," when playing around in there and everyone knows it is
> coming from the youtube video about Bon Cui Cui and Burger King and is an
> expression concerning good service/bad service. "Hot mess" seems to be
> another such reference there.
> Darla
>
> 2010/8/21 Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>
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> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      a hot mess
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I've heard this several times, but only in the past couple of weeks.
> > UrbanDictionary.com gives most imaginable nuances:
> > http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hot%20mess . The many
> > hundreds of thumbs up or down show how common the phrase is.
> >
> > JL
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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> warning. -Catherine Aird
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org